


Rogue Wizard

by writingandcoe



Series: The Swindon Files [9]
Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher, The Dresden Files Roleplaying Game
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 09:47:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 42,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19423492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingandcoe/pseuds/writingandcoe
Summary: The Winter Knight wants to repay a favour...by asking Dini for help.Set in an alt universe of the Dresden Files, a timeline and an ocean away from Chicago.





	1. Part 1: Canada

The world around me feels grey and cold - which, to be fair, it is. I'm in Manchester, gritty and urban and filled with people who just want to get wherever they're going as fast as possible. That they do it with maximum unpleasantness speaks volumes for the character of this particular place. Ok, ok. I'm a Brit from the south. I have prejudices. Bite me.

But even as I think it, that description doesn't sit too well on my shoulders. I'm classifying myself by where I lived, and now...now, I live in a world of sunlight and beauty, waving corn and dappled green. I surround myself with Faeries and Sidhe, centaurs and trolls, magic and life. I've stepped out into this cold, grey reality, and it's making it even clearer that I don't belong here.

That, and the accent around me is just indecipherable. I really hope 90% of the words aren't curses, but they sure as hell sound like it.

I jam my hands into my pockets and match my scowl to those of the people around me. The only reason I'm walking through these streets is because I've got a meeting with my favourite enemy, and for whatever ridiculous reason, he picked Manchester. We settled on Accorded Neutral Territory, and so I'm dodging shoppers on my way to a bad pint and probably even worse news.

Look, I don't trust the Winter Knight further than I can throw him, and that includes times he tries to be nice. If he wants a meeting, it can't be for anything good. I've only been the Summer Knight for half a year, but I learned not to trust Kindred a long time before my Court prejudices confirmed it.

I spot the white-streaked hair and leather jacket of the Winter Knight outside the ancient-looking building in Manchester's bustling centre. It's grey but not raining, and even despite the threat of incipient drizzle the outside seating has a few people in it - including the man I'm here to see. He's sat at a table in the middle with no-one around, and he's got a half-empty pint in front of him. I have no intention of staying any longer than it takes to see what the hell he wants, so I don't get a drink; I just sit down opposite him and raise an eyebrow.

"I've got an offer for you," he says without preamble.

"I'll listen," I say evenly.

"I owe you two favours, right?"

I nod. They seem like a lifetime ago, but he hasn't yet repaid them. "One for a troll rescue and one because I helped you out with the goddamn Krampus."

He grins at me. "I want to repay them." I think my scepticism shows on my face, and his grin gets wider. "You're going to help me."

"How exactly is that a repayment from you?" I ask, incredulous. "For fuck's sake..."

"You'll want to be involved in this," Kindred says, suddenly serious. "That's the favour."

Something in his tone stops my immediate rejoinder, and I meet his eyes. He's dead serious, the habitual smirk and sarcasm gone.

"You can't ask the Knight," I say slowly. "But you can bring Dini in. Does Mab know you're doing this?"

He gives a one-shouldered shrug. "She ain't asking questions, I ain't telling no lies."

So...possibly. She'll either be planning on this or really, really pissed. Well, it's on Kindred's head. I lean back in the chair. "All right, I'm listening."

"I'm taking a little jaunt along the Ways, and doing some investigation."

"And this has anything to do with me why?"

He leans forward and grins, something vindictive and malicious touching his eyes. "Because it probably involves someone who was close to you."

"Warren." The word burns my lips before I can close them on my lover's name.

Kindred just gives me a smirk, and the tangle in my chest threatens to choke me. Titania's compulsion is in there - she ordered me to kill him if I ever meet him, just to repair the Summer Court's balance. And there's a knot of sadness, fury, nostalgia...all bound up in the mention of the former Knight.

But what comes out is the twist of loathing and fury, aimed squarely at Kindred. He knows what Warren meant to me. He knows the circumstances of Warren's dismissal from the Court. He knows exactly what it does when he brings the subject up, and he's enjoying my reaction with vindictive glee. I really, really hate him for it.

"Then why are you asking me?" I spit.

"Like I said. Repaying a favour." He can be the most obtuse and pig-headed person at times, but it gives me a moment to get control of myself.

He's right. If Warren's involved in something, then I need to be: I'm one of the few people in the world with a hope of countering him. And...I suspect there's something else going on. Warren may have Nemesis on his side, but he's not that powerful a wizard. There's got to be another reason that Kindred's calling me in under the table.

I take another second to get the tangle of emotion under control, and then nod. "So if I did agree to help...can you give me details?"

"I can't tell you more right now. You'll have to trust me."

I stare at him and he stares back, blue eyes serious.

We've reached an impasse. For whatever reason, he can't tell me what's going on...and he's asking me to trust him. For Kindred, that's a big ask. For me, that's a big trust.

And then I sigh. I'm feeling like I'm taking a huge risk, but...I mentally shrug. I do trust Kindred, despite our mutual hatred thanks to our Court relationship. "All right. So to repay one favor," I stress the word lightly, "you want Dini to be your back-up and accomplice to whatever you're investigating?"

He scowls. "This is a big one, dollface."

"So was the troll when it was after you. One, or take a hike."

"Fine."

I hold out my hand. "As repayment of the favour, I want in on whatever this is. When, where, and what do you know?"

He shakes my hand, a relieved grin crossing his face. "Now. I'll explain as we go."

The entrance to the Way is a piss-soaked door that Kindred pretty much kicks open. As soon as we're through, I call Davido down from his watch above me and send him off with a message for the Court; I'll be away on urgent business for the day at least, and I'll update them as soon as I can. The tiny Faerie promises faithfully to deliver the message, and I ignore Kindred's sarcastic comments about the lack of memory and concentration in the Little Folk. They've been excellent companions for the past year, and he can go boil his head.

And then we get going. The first few minutes are through narrow alleys and looming, decaying buildings that I don't like the look of. I can sense eyes on us, and malevolent intentions. But we've both got our power showing, and it seems to be enough to warn the nasties that we're not worth attacking.

And then we're out onto a broken tarmac road, heading towards darkened mountains. We've hit the Badlands.

"So?" I ask as we head out onto the emptiness of the Way. "And where are we going?"

Kindred glances at me. "Put the power away, dollface, and then you're not conspicuous."

I shove it down as far as it will go, but being on the Way makes me nervous. I have to keep a little bit out, just to be aware of what's around.

"All right. So, had any fun fights recently?"

I scowl at him. "Aren't you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Humour me, dollface. Tell me some war stories."

Either he's been replaced by something, or he's got a reason for doing this. Is he trying to delay telling me for some reason? Wait for a certain point on the Way? I start drawing on Summer, just a little more.

"Oh, for..." Kindred says, and catches my arm. "Look, I know we don't get on most of the time. But just this once, trust me."

I'm still frowning. "What the hell is going on?"

"Put Summer away," he says impatiently, "be Dini for a bit, and tell me what you've been up to."

I reluctantly let Summer go, and shove my hands in my pockets. "We've had attacks on our borders. Mostly against the wyldfae...it's been a variety of things. Goblins on the Way up to Edinburgh, ghouls over in the US-"

"Oh, you got a problem with them?" Kindred butts in.

"Yeah." He's steering this. Why? "They've only been hunting in small packs, but they're pretty vicious. They're attacking the wyldfae and Little Folk mostly." His words about trusting him have been echoing in my head; I've got to give a bit. I swallow, and then add, "I know Winter's been supporting them."

"What makes you think that?" It's not a denial; he's actually asking the question.

I snort. "They're using the Ways through Winter territory. They're vicious. What more-"

"First one, yes," Kindred interrupts again. "Second charge, not so much. Would you say they're more powerful than they should be?"

My eyes are widening. "Yeah. But that's Winter aid, isn't it?" Kindred's silent, and I shoot a look at him. He's got his hands in his pockets and is scowling at the path. "Kindred, if you want my help, you're going to have to start actually telling me things."

"I'm trying!" he snaps. That's the point I realise he's white-faced, straining against something.

"Mab?" I guess.

The way his jaw twitches tells me I'm right. He can't actively tell me, but his Queen's put a compulsion on him to stop him talking. That's why he's been making me go through this song and dance.

"I'll give you a piece of useful information if you give one in return," I try, wondering if that'll get round it.

He spots what I'm trying to do, and gives me a crooked smile. "Let's try that."

"There's a snitch, too," I comment. It's gotta be something big, because then he'll have to repay it with something equal. Much as I don't want to tell him this. "Someone's telling the ghouls where the Summer attacks are going to be. We don't know who it is."

"That's..." But then Kindred shakes his head, his face white and strained. "Fucking hell! Start making some guesses."

"All right. The ghouls are attacking Summer, helped by a snitch in our ranks and a little bit of Winter aid." I frown, trying to put the pieces together. "You said that they're more powerful than they should be. But you've said that, so it's not Winter boosting them. Which means it's someone else."

He's managing the shadow of a grin.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb. Warren's involved. He's boosting the ghoul packs."

He manages a nod, but I can see the effort.

"And you know where he is. We're on the path to the Badlands, so..." I try to think of a way around the compulsion. "Fancy visiting Scotland?"

"Nothing in Scotland but whiskey and fuckin' freezing weather."

"Iceland, Norway, Denmark?"

"God knows why I'd want to go to any of those. Dark and miserable."

"Just like you," I tease. "Canada?"

"I'm a big fan of maple syrup, but from what I've seen it's mostly fuckin' snow. I guess I've always gone too far north to get the nice bits."

"Oh, good. We're getting there." I frown, trying to work out what I know of Canada. "Kindred, please can you tell me a bit about northern Canada in terms of general magical power? I'll pay you a kiss in return."

"Sure, dollface," the Knight says easily, sounding relieved. "Most of it's tundra. It's got several leylines running up through there, but because it's badlands, there's also all sorts of nasties. It's mostly Winter turf but there's large areas of wild-land because we can't be arsed to claim it."

"Warren's up there because it's out of Summer's eye. You wouldn't be bothered about him." And then it hits me. "You've been hiding him. That's why I haven't been able to find him."

Kindred's jaw has set again. Of course...Mab's blocked him from telling me about Warren. He's a very useful weapon against Summer, and she's want him where she could find him - but not where he'd be any danger to her Court. So let him have free reign in Canada...

"But he's going against what she wants by powering up ghouls," I say out loud.

Kindred doesn't answer.

"O-k, so she does want the ghouls being powered up. Well, I suppose they'll attack Summer."

Kindred drums his fingers on his belt. "Had any other good fights recently, dollface?"

I can't honestly think of any other enemies. "Not really. How about you?"

"I had a good one against the Fomor recently. And the Reds seem to be nicely feisty, although they're mostly battering the White Council."

Something clicks in my brain. "If Mab can't actively control Warren...maybe there's too many being powered? And he's helping other things? Nemesis wouldn't dance to Mab's tune."

A faint quirk of a smile. I'm getting there.

"Ghouls and...well, who else would get in on that? Jades, Reds, Blacks, Fomor..."

"The Fomor'll take anything going," Kindred supplies.

"And you've just fingered the Reds, too." I think for a bit as we walk, and then say, "So Mab can't act against Warren directly because she's allowed him to be in Winter territory, and stopped Winter Fae from attacking him. But she's worried about what he's up to. She doesn't want to destroy a potential weapon against Summer but doesn't want him in a position to attack Winter. So she's told you to investigate, and you've brought me in under the table because..." I hesitate. "Warren's one of the people who could destroy me. That's a good outcome for you, I suppose?"

He holds up his hands. "I swear on my power that I have no ill intentions against you in this matter, Dini. I can't work with the Summer Knight, but I will protect and support you as far as I'm able. I'm not plotting against you." He considers that. "Well. Generally, yes. This, no."

"Why have you asked me along, then?"

"I told you." He sounds faintly annoyed. "Because you'll want to be involved."

"That doesn't explain you being nice."

He does smile at that. "True. Because you know him, and you can track him."

"Winter didn't nick anything off him?" I snap, suddenly angry. Trust Kindred to use me...but then what did I expect?

"No." He shrugs. "And I just have a hunch that I'll want some decent backup around."

I consider it. It fits with Kindred, and I can at least believe the not-wanting-to-whack-me-right-now thing. If he needs me, he'll screw me for everything he can. "All right. So you're worried about Warren going under Winter's nose, and the...amount of power? The people he's powering up?" I'm feeling smug about having put it all together.

"Fuckin' finally!" Kindred says. "I thought I was going to have to beat you over the head with that. Yeah, I've got a rogue wizard in the tundra, technically being allowed by Winter, but probably up to no good...and considering I've been whacking some of the stuff he's been throwing out, I'm not too happy about it. Mab's asked me to investigate because he's not a Winter subject, and you're here because I want decent company...and you can hopefully track him."

"So you can talk about it now?" I comment, exasperated.

"You put it together yourself, dollface. I just couldn't tell you about him or the ghouls. Or my worries. But now you've figured it out..." He grins at me.

"You're a complete pain in the arse, you know that?"

"Blame my Queen." He grimaces. "And you owe me a kiss."

That's a nice diversion; it's been a little while since I've kissed him, and it makes me remember why I like him.

Of course, the conversation we've just had makes me remember why I don't.

"So, any more questions?" the man asks as we separate.

"I'm sure I'll think of some," I say dryly, and jam my own hands in my pockets as we turn and start walking again. "Well, fun. So, we're on our way to Canada. What's the first stop?"

"This is the first time I've really looked into this," he admits. "I'm investigating too. I think we need to stop in Toronto and talk to someone there first."

"Can you tell me who?"

"A Warden." That seems to be all he'll say, whether through choice or not I don't know. I jam my hands back into my pockets and let Summer out again, happier to have its protection when I'm travelling. The Ways aren't nice.

We don't talk much for the next ten minutes, navigating a tricky stretch of mudflat that almost seems like quicksand. We're both very careful about where we tread, but the stakes shoved into the mud make it easier - as long as you work out which side of them you're meant to stay. I catch a glimpse of something tentacled and writhing further out, but it doesn't come close to us, and we get through with no more problems than muddy shoes.

"So why didn't Titania kill him?" the Winter Knight asks casually as the path levels out again and starts to rise, heading for a coastline. "It would have made everything a lot easier."

I give a one-shouldered shrug, and he raises an eyebrow. I don't even have to look at him to see the sarcastic and enquiring glare. "I don't know why. She took the Mantle from him but left him alive, and then..."

"He was beyond the Court's influence." Kindred nods. "And so you get the job of tracking him down and killing him."

"I don't want to," I say, annoyed. "I told her that."

"Can't disobey a Queen, dollface."

"Sure I can. That's what I get paid for."

Kindred gives me a flat stare. "He's Nemesis. He's a fucking wizard, and he's up to serious no good. You're willing to risk that?"

"I've seen too many deaths. I won't kill him."

"It's not so hard."

I want to scream, and I know my voice rises. "I loved him. I don't expect you to understand that!"

He's silent.

And then he says, quietly, "No. You're right, I don't." I see him shove his hands in his pockets out of the corner of my eye. "I've got people I...care about. But no one like that."

"Could you kill any of them?" I ask, trying not to sound too bitter.

"Well, one of them's my mortal enemy." He's trying to sound light-hearted.

I manage a smile. "Nice to know I'm on your hit list." I can see I've made him think. I'm never sure, with Kindred, if that's a good thing or not. "Could you kill him?"

"Sure." He says it easily.

"How?"

Luckily, he takes that in the spirit it was meant - I could do without a run-down of Winter's favourite murder scenarios. "He's not my friend. I've got no reasons to like him."

"Well, if you want him dead that badly, you can kill him."

"You give me the nicest presents," he says with a wide grin. "I might come round to liking you, dollface."


	2. Toronto

It take us three hours to get to Toronto, and we step out of a glass-plated door amongst skyscrapers. It's cold, but not unduly so; but then, I am wrapped in Summer. Admittedly that makes me a bit of an unusual visitor for this latitude, but even the northern cities get some relief from snow and biting winds.

I've been here once before, but not to this area, and I look around with interest as we wander along. Kindred knows where he's going, and so I'm just walking alongside. I like this city; I love the mix of tower-blocks and quirky little streets, the rows of houses and the wide spaces. The people are friendly and unique, and I eye some of the fashion styles as we pass opinionated women and shyly smiling men. But it's as we pass one of the gleaming tower-blocks and I catch sight of my reflection that I pause. "Kindred..."

He halts and glances back over his shoulder at me, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Yup?"

"You're not meant to have Summer with you."

He looks me up and down. "You're human. Ish."

I stare into the glass. I haven't looked at myself properly for a while, and now I do, I'm seeing a problem. I'm still human, yes, but I can see the faintly ethereal air around me. Even with Summer pushed down, I've got something of the Fae.

And, of course, there's my white hair. I'll stand out wherever I go.

"Do you think I could pass for Winter?" I ask, still looking into my own grey eyes.

He's taken a few steps back to stand behind me, and now examines my reflection in the window. "Uh, I guess. You're pretty pale. Why, though?"

"You're the Winter Knight. Being accompanied by a Winter changeling isn't exactly noteable. And it'll disguise the fact you've borrowed me." I turn my gaze away from my own face in the glass and onto him. "We've got time. Let's find a pharmacy, and I'll see what I can do."

An hour later, and I think I've done what I wanted. My hair's now hanging down my back, and it's got a faintly blue tint; enough to turn it away from the sun-bleached white and into something approaching ice and glaciers. I've swapped my light shirt out for a t-shirt with a fashionable slogan in pink and reds and a darker jacket, going with the grunge look that seems to be popular in the Winter court. And as I look in the mirror in the small bus-station bathroom, I smile at my new reflection. A selection of "Ice Queen" eyeshadow and a lipstick has turned me into someone I barely recognise; my face is porcelain, shadowed in blues and whites that highlight my cheekbones and make my grey eyes even more stony. Added to my ice-blue hair, I hope that my Fae glamour will be taken for Winter's by anyone not involved in a Court...which, ideally, should be everyone we're meeting.

Kindred blinks when I step out, and then starts to grin. "Oh, hi there..."

I grin back at him. "What d'ya think?"

"You'll definitely do." He catches me round the waist and looks down into my face, noting the touches of makeup. "Are you going to have to keep stopping to put that on?"

"No, it should last. I asked it to." I smile. "I've got the bits anyway."

"You look completely different." He's still examining my face, and then runs a hand through my hair, trailing down the length. "I like it. You're more...foxy."

I raise an eyebrow. "Is that a compliment?"

"You look like you'd put out more." He grins down at me, and I know he's just trying to wind me up. He does get a thump in the ribs for it, though.

"What're you going to call me, then?" I ask as he lets me go. "Dini's recognisable to anyone who knows the Courts."

"You've got a name. Dollface."

I roll my eyes and stick my hands in my pockets. "Fine."

We stop to grab sandwiches at one of the small bars, and eat as we walk. I restrain my curiosity for as long as it takes to eat, and then give in. "So where are we going?"

"A Warden named Bella Carson." He's wolfed his sandwich and now throws the wrapper at a bin. I catch it as he misses, and put it in. "Regional Warden for Canada, or at least the bits of it people care about. I discreetly sent my problem to some of the Council, and they sent a message back that it's essentially her problem to deal with. So I want to try to enlist her."

"What exactly did you ask the Council about?" I ask. Considering he wouldn't tell me anything earlier, I suspect he got a message while I was shopping. Talk about last-minute!

Kindred's face snaps into what I'm starting to think of as 'lockjaw-mode'. Mab's shut him up again.

"O-k. You asked the Council about Warren powering up the ghouls."

No answer, so it's not that.

"Nemesis. You asked the Council if they could help with Nemesis."

"I did," Kindred allows, but I get the impression that isn't everything.

"Um, what else..." I feel my stomach flip. "He's in contact with Outsiders."

My companion relaxes. "Yeah. And that is their problem if he is."

"How the hell do you prove that?" I ask.

"I have no idea," Kindred admits. "I'm hoping to charm her into helping."

"Or bully her."

"That too." He winces. "Although bullying Wardens doesn't really work."

"That sounds like a good story." I grin. "Tell?"

"Ugh, why do you always pick the stories that make me look like an idiot?" he grumbles.

"Oh, this must have been bad! You gotta tell it now."

He gives me a sanitised version of a story about trying to fight four Wardens to rescue a beautiful nixie and being overpowered after defeating three of them. I make him tell it again, pointing out where he's slipped up and reverted to the truth, and then again. Eventually, he gives up and informs me that he was challenged by a Warden after an ill-advised snarky comment, got his ass handed to him, and hasn't been back to Maryland since. He seems to take my gleeful laughter as a personal affront, which I suppose it is. But I am supposed to be his enemy, and it's good for him to be taken down a notch or three.

I'm feeling strangely childish. I think I like being Dollface; a snarky and unimpressed Winter changeling who's been dragged along despite her pouty protests. And Kindred seems to get annoyed by her, which is excellent. I like this persona.

Kindred is still scowling as we approach the tower block for Bella's apartment. It's opposite a row of small, quirky shops, including a coffee-house, and the smell makes my mouth water. I don't expect I'll be allowed to divert, though. I follow Kindred up five flights of stairs - trusting a lift when you're with a wizard who tends to hex things is not a good idea - and we step out onto a bare landing. There's two doors; one is bare wood, and the other's green, fronted by a doormat with a flowered border. Kindred glances at both doors, raises one eyebrow, and then steps over to the green door.

The woman who answers the door isn't at all as I had imagined Bella Carson - or actually any Warden. She's short and plump, with dyed blonde hair and soft brown eyes. She's currently wearing a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt that says "Optimal Solutions", and she's holding the US edition of the latest Vogue magazine.

Kindred obviously wasn't expecting her either. "Uh. Warden Carson?"

"Shouldn't be blurting that out to just anyone, pal," the woman says in a marked Canadian accent. "Who are you?"

"Kindred."

She looks him up and down. "Prove it."

I think she's pissed him off. Kindred goes full Winter, right on her doorstep.

I take a step back as ice starts to spread across the flowered doormat, stopping at the threshold. Behind us, the concrete of the stairwell is starting to ice over. Kindred himself has icicle blades sliding out from his fingers, frost creeping across his leather jacket, and the white streaks in his hair are almost shining. I can't see his eyes from here, but I know they'll be the frozen periwinkle-blue that I love and I hate. My enemy is here...

Bella nearly took a step back, but she's managed to rein it in and is just staring at him. I wonder if they've soulgazed - I can't see where her eyes are focusing.

And then she says, "All right." Her eyes turn to me.

I shrug and jerk a thumb at the frosty Knight. "I'm with him." I'm fighting Summer something fierce, but I think I've got it under control. If she does notice anything weird, it doesn't show on her face.

"Come on in, Knight, miss."

I lay a hand on Kindred's arm as he doesn't move. "Put it away, Winter boy."

He flinches as I touch him, and I know my touch burns. Luckily Bella's already turned away, so I don't think she sees the melted patch on Kindred's frosted jacket. And then he shudders, and the eyes that look down at me are the blue of my human friend. "Come on then, dollface."

I follow him inside. I'll have to follow Guest Rights here, as much as Kindred will...but hopefully nothing will come up that will mean I'm tempted not to. Even Cat Sith can behave himself in a home, so Kindred should be able to.

"Coffee?" Bella asks, gesturing for us to come through as I shut the door. "Sorry, miss, I didn't catch your name."

"Dollface. A coffee would be lovely, thank you."

She looks a little surprised, probably at my politeness. I guess I should work on that.

"Coffee'd be good. Black," Kindred puts in.

"Same, miss?"

"Yes, please." I'd love a tea but I don't think that's going to happen.

We head into the kitchen after Bella, and at her urging sit down at the small table. She's got a few pictures on the walls; some children with a similar look, some of adults. I wonder if they're her kids, or maybe nieces and nephews. If she's a wizard, she's going to be old. Maybe she's a new wizard, though...it's the sort of thing I might be able to ask about later.

Bella brings mugs over and slides them over to us. I wrap my hands around mine automatically, enjoying the warmth. Kindred leaves his alone for a while.

"So, y'all got directed to me for some wizard who's gone rogue?" Bella asks. I've just about got her accent down so that it's comprehensible.

"He's up in the tundra," Kindred says. "Using the leylines to power ghouls. He's got Nemesis in his head."

The Warden scowls. "Ya got proof of that?"

"How do you prove Nemesis?" Kindred shoots back. "I got sent to you because he's in contact with Outsiders. You can deal with that."

"What're you two up here for, then?" Bella's eyes flick to me. "England's a long way to come for one rogue wizard."

"The rest of it. The ghouls are causing trouble and he's starting powering Fomor. I've been asked to deal with it."

"And you?" Bella's caught on to Kindred's sole credit.

I shrug languidly. "He wanted someone to talk to on the journey."

"And Ariel wants you out of her hair," Kindred snarks, and then turns back to Bella. "She's just backup. Have you heard anything going on up in the tundra?"

Bella rests her elbows on the table and takes a sip of her coffee. "We've got issues with Fomor and ghouls, same as the rest. Well, ghouls not so much. The Black Court are worse up here, although they don't have much of a presence outside the cities. Not enough food."

"Reds?"

She shrugs. "Same issues the entire Council has, in that they hate us. Most of the war is going on down South, though."

"Fae?"

"Winters, mostly. And wyld." She's eyeing him again. "None of this says I need to get off my ass and help you. Why can't you sort this wizard out yerself?"

"He's summoning Outsiders. That is your beat."

"He's also causing problems for you. That's yours."

"All right. I need help because he nearly beat me last time," Kindred spits. "I want backup."

"You got backup," Bella points out, waving in my direction.

"Decent backup," Kindred snarls back. I rest my elbows on the table and drink my coffee with a small grin. This Winter changeling is just along for the ride...

"I'm too busy to go up to the tundra on a wild goose chase."

"You'll be even busier when he starts calling Outsiders through. Or are the ghouls and Fomor not enough for you?"

I think that's what gets to her. She knows that the Fomor have been causing trouble, and she must know her beat; she knows what's happening. If someone's throwing extra power around, that's enough of a problem to get her involved, and she can't deny it's her territory. The addition of potential Lawbreaking is just icing. She sighs. "I didn't sign up for this much shit..."

"All in a day's work, sweetcheeks," Kindred comments with his best smirk.

I think that's her breaking point. The Warden starts laughing, a slightly breathless tumble of humour. I can't deny the warmth in it, and even Kindred is smiling. "All right. So who is this guy, and what's he up to?"

It's interesting to hear Kindred's version of the story, particularly as I have a very different version in my head that he won't get to hear. A rogue wizard, permitted on the tundra by Winter because he was considered useful, and now giving power to various nasties right under Winter's innocent nose...

To give her credit, Bella gives the Winter Knight a long, serious look when he tries to paint Winter as uninvolved. "Bullshit. Wasn't I hearing something about ghouls involved in a little war against Summer down in Baltimore, amongst other places?"

"I don't sanction-"

"Can it, Knight. Winter's been lettin' him power the people attacking Summer, and now you're worried he's got too powerful, and you're dumping the problem on other people."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Kindred sounds aggrieved. "I'm putting my own ass on the line."

"And mine. What proof have you got that the wizard up there on the tundra is involved with these ghouls? Or the Fomor?"

"I went up there and they attacked me," Kindred snaps. "It's his last known location. Not too hard to join the dots, is it?"

"How about the Outsiders, then? Y'got anything for that?"

"The Queen's sure." He doesn't say which Queen.

The Warden snorts. "Huh, because they ain't ever tricky. Well, whatever you said to the Council worked. I got a suggestion that I can't buck, as they don't like the Fomor or ghouls, and if you're providing firepower then it's as good a time as any to neutralise this wizard. What's his name?"

"Warren."

She doesn't react at all, which makes me think she hasn't had anything to do with the Summer Court, at least. Good. "Any other information?"

Kindred shrugs. "I haven't fought him yet, so no." He leans back in the chair. "I tried to get up there, and I got mildly whomped. I want to go down to Baltimore first, if you're in for that. There's a ghoul down there who's likely to give me some information if I play nice."

"What sorta information?"

"How to get in past the hordes and straight to the wizard."

She considers and then nods. "Sounds useful. I'd rather have it from the source, so I'll come with you. I know a Way, anyway. It'll only take half an hour." She looks at me. "You comin', or you want to rest here while we go?"

"Nah, I'll come." I wriggle my shoulders inside the jacket. "I'd get bored if I couldn't join in the fun."

"I wouldn't let you out of my sight anyway," Kindred grumbles. "I've got enough trouble with you without grabbing any more. Right. Happy to go?"

"How about some dinner and sleep?" Bella suggests. "It's near dark, and I don't want to traipse around the Ways after dusk if I don't have to."

Kindred sighs when I nod agreement. "Fine! Got any hotel recommendations?"

She gives us two. I don't tell Kindred that I've got no intention of staying in a hotel; he may have roped me into this, but he didn't say I couldn't go home to sleep.

That thought stings. Home is my Court, not my abandoned house in Swindon...ouch.

We get out the front door, and I immediately veil. "I'll see you here at dawn, sweetcheeks," I tell him, my voice fading so he can't tell which way I've gone.

He isn't stupid enough to open the Sight. "You bitch!"

My mocking laugh fades out into the dusk.

Dawn finds me lounging at the entrance to Bella's apartment block. I've got myself some gum and Rowan's helped me with the make-up. Titania was Not Happy about the information I provided, but then Kindred should know better than to trust me with everything. However, my Queen reluctantly agreed that I was doing the best thing to get Warren out of our hair permanently, and that Kindred had - unexpectedly - helped us. Despite Titania's annoyance at his Court's actions, Kindred has (for what I think is the first time ever) got himself into Summer's good books. I was debating placing a bet to see how long he manages to stay there, but Tiny got in first with twenty-four hours. Davido thinks it'll be five minutes.

And if the attitude of my Queen had anything to do with my own views, I suspect Kindred's standing with the Court wouldn't last past his first greeting to me.

He performs admirably. "Wotcha, Dollface. You're looking particularly fuckable this morning."

I pop my latest bubble in his direction. "Hello to you too. Ready?"

"Where's the grey-cloak?" He doesn't wait for my answer, but leans on her doorbell.

I fold my arms and smirk at him as there's no answer.

He leans on it again.

"I'm here," Bella says from behind him, sounding irritated. "I got you a coffee, but I'm not sure if you deserve one for waking my neighbours up like that."

The doorbell numbers change back to the correct ones just as the connection clicks open. "What?" a sleepy, pissed-off American accent demands.

Kindred snatches the coffee. "Fuck you, dollface. So where's the Way?"

"Three blocks over," Bella says, settling her sword further under her grey cloak. "Watch out for the taxis. They like to play skittles with pedestrians here."

"Great," Kindred grumbles, taking a swig at the coffee. "Just what I need."


	3. Baltimore

Luckily it's only half an hour to Baltimore; half an hour to travel five hundred miles, but then you sort of get used to that when using the Ways. I know the first part of the route, as it's one from New York; it takes us past Niagara, with its roaring each easily double the size and power of the one in the real world. Luckily it's not a source of power for anyone; it's too strong to be controlled by any one faction, and neither Summer or Winter can lay claim to running water. I soak up the scale, feeling as awed as I always do when I pass it. It's beautiful and terrifying.

The sound makes it hard to talk until we slip off the path at a twisted rock formation that's obviously part of some wilderness in the real world. I don't know the route from here, and watch with interest to find the passing-places. The next one's at an abandoned truck-stop, the tarmac cracked amidst half-tumbled walls and the remains of a sign. I wonder if that's still there in the real world, but now isn't the time to check. And then we're coming into Baltimore.

"So have you got a contact already?" Bella asks.

"Greg Blitz," Kindred says, sounding irritable. "No idea where he is, though."

I wonder if that's the truth, or if he's lying for my benefit. I'd definitely appreciate knowing where to find the ghouls...

He catches my sideways glance, and says, "They move, dollface. They don't trust-" He's about to say 'Summer Court' when he remembers, and changes it to, "anyone."

"I can do some digging," Bella says. "I checked with a friend of mine and we can use her house as a base if we need to. I don't know how long it's going to take."

I relax. I was a little worried about having to haunt coffee-shops for however long it took to find information. A threshold makes me feel safer, for all that it limits my magic.

We step out into a wide street with red-brick buildings. It takes a moment, but I recognise it as part of Canton's endless cross-hatchings, and sigh. I've spent far too much time here recently.

It's a few minutes through the streets, and I'm really hoping my Winter disguise holds up. The people who pass us don't bat an eyelid, which reassures me, although I do feel better when we get to Dillon Street and Bella unlocks a door with a keypad.

The house inside is nice, if empty. There is a shelf of books, a large TV, trinkets scattered around...but it's not lived-in. I wonder why.

"All right, will this do?" Bella asks. "If y'all happy, I'll go and do some checking."

Kindred nods. "We've got some tracking to do. What's the code for here?"

"Four-six-eight-three." The Warden nods to me, and then the door shuts behind her.

"Ok, dollface," Kindred says, turning to me. "Time to earn your keep."

I raise my eyes to his, glad we're alone. "I don't have anything to track him with. The only thing I've got is back at my house."

"That's fine. Either you can use whatever you know of his Name, or there's a mind trick you can use. Form a picture of that person..." And then he sees my expression. "What?"

I feel the cold of the hallway wall against my back and sink down against it, my knees almost giving way. "His Name. I know his Name." I'd forgotten. How could I have forgotten?

Kindred's expression as he crouches down in front of me is a mixture of feral joy and wariness. "He gave you his Name? His whole Name?"

I nod.

"But he knows yours."

He's good. I nod again.

"Well, you've got a link to him. You can track him. Same as you would with hair or something." The feral joy is winning out, Kindred's teeth baring in a not-nice smile. "That's even better than I'd expected. Care to tell?"

I didn't even know I possessed the depths of anger that surge up from my chest. I see Kindred's smile freeze and he becomes the enemy, wary and alert, his eyes flicking. It's only an instant and then it's under control, but I think I scared both of us.

"No," I say levelly, once I'm sure my voice is under control. "I'm not giving you that."

"Just asking." He's retreated into snark. "You don't necessarily need the circle and all that jazz, just get a focus. Doing it now?"

"Will he know?"

Kindred frowns. "Not if you don't call on it. Huh. Maybe we could use the circle and stuff, just to ensure you're not alerting him."

I wrap my arms around myself, trying to shove away the memories. "How do we check that?"

He rests his elbows on his knees, thinking. "Well, I know your Name, or at least two parts of it. Why don't we play hide'n'seek?"

I go shopping.

I've made Kindred give me a half-hour head start - well, actually, we had lunch. I left him in the cafe and made him promise to amble his way back to the house. I'm half expecting him to ignore that just out of principle, but then this is an experiment and it's in his interests to make sure I'm as unfindable as possible.

Baltimore's nice. I can sort-of sense the supernatural elements here; there's a fuck-off great leyline running through the city, and I get occasional flashes of Summer. If any of my kin are nearby, they'll know me...as will any Winter Fae. But for now, I'm pretty much safe, albeit on my guard, and enjoying the chance to just be.

I'm also keeping one - metaphorical - ear out for a tracking spell. But as I wander round the shops, in and out of the crowds of people, I can't sense anything.

Kindred finds me an hour and eight minutes after I left the cafe, just as I've found another Winter-ish t-shirt and I'm wondering if I actually have any money at the moment. "Gotcha, dollface."

I did sense him, but only because he was Winter and only when he was entering the shop. Given the grin on his face, I'm not going to tell him that. "I didn't feel the tracking at all."

"I'm just that good." He's got the smirk on again.

"Although I'd like to try it with some space. Is there a park or something around here?"

"Yeah, but we really need to meet Bella."

I grimace. "I'm worried the amount of people make a change. Or that I'm not a good enough wizard to know when someone's tracking me."

"Eh, you worry too much. Stop ogling clothes and come on."

Bella's back at the house, and she's got us an address and an invite. Well, a temporary truce.

"Neat," Kindred says happily. "Let's go."

"Uh, hang on-" I start.

"Problem?" he snaps at me.

"Yes." I'm trying to think of a way to express my worries without alerting Bella, but I can't. "Can I have a word with you?"

"In private?" He smirks. "Sure you can. Ma'am, would you excuse us?"

Bella's looking pretty unimpressed, but sits down on the sofa in the house as I drag Kindred through to the kitchen. "Any way to stop her listening?"

He does the same thing that he did before in a small pub somewhere in Gloucestershire and creates some wards, although luckily for me to a lesser extent. I've got no desire to be stuck in a kitchen with Kindred for a night. "What's up?"

"Am I going to be welcome?" I ask.

He's giving me a puzzled look. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"Did it happen to slip your notice," I comment, "that you were trying to take a disguised Summer minion into a meeting with the people we've been fighting for the past six months?" His poker face is very good, but I know him. "I don't know what their capabilities are, but if they've been powered up, they could easily be able to sense me. You've just brought the Summer Knight with you...looks like Winter's trying to double-cross the people they've been supporting, doesn't it? You're now working with their enemies, trying to spill their secrets, betraying them with a view to wiping them out and having your hands clean..." I smile at him.

"You're being very calm about this, dollface." He grins at me. We both know how the game is played, and that it would have been a lot of fun manoeuvring against each other, seeing who could betray the other first...I can entirely believe that he hadn't considered the implications of taking me into a meeting with the ghouls, but now he's been clued in, he's got no excuses.

"Believe me, I'd love to take the opportunity to land you in absolute shit and ruin your little game." I bare my teeth back at him. "But we're after the brains, not the minions."

"I'd say you were thinking like Winter, if you weren't going to take it as an insult."

"I'm allowed to be logical, that's human. Are you going to leave me here or are you going to risk it?"

He blinks. He hadn't expected me to drop the decision back into his hands. "Uh. If I leave you here, what are you going to do?"

"Go and talk to some Paranet folks."

"Like that?" He stares pointedly at my t-shirt.

I let the glamour flow upwards, becoming the reporter and Paranet contact. My hair darkens, my grey eyes standing out in pale skin, my clothes becoming more sensible, my beauty fading. "Not exactly."

There's something in his expression that I can't figure out, but I don't know what it is. He just looks at me for a minute, and then nods. "Ok. Well, I've got plausible deniability if you're caught in the same city as me."

I let the glamour go. "How long d'you think you'll be?"

He destroys the quietening wards with a flick of his fingers, and shrugs. "No idea. Bella! We're leaving Dollface here." As the Warden comes to the door, he turns back to me. "It's not like you're nice enough company I need you around."

I stick my tongue out at him, trying not to take the words to heart. "Fine. I'll stay here and you can cause chaos by yourself."

"Ya got it, dollface." He winks at me. "Stay here and out of trouble. If we're not back in a few hours, come looking."

"Only because I like Bella," I snark back. "She's nicer than you."

"Hey, she mighta got the looks," Kindred rejoins, "but I definitely got the brains." Bella glares and the Winter Knight grins at her, unrepentant. "C'mon, let's go see some skinny bastards."

When they arrive back at the house three hours later, I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a box of Krispy Kreme, a very fat Davido and a notebook. I have warned the small Faerie of what needs to happen and as soon as the door lock clicks, he's sprung up. I hand him the few pages of notes I want taken home, and he's gone out of the open window by the time the door's opening. It's pretty slick.

"Donut?" I ask as Bella steps in.

She just gives me an amused look and comes further in, letting Kindred shut the door behind them. "You've eaten all of those?"

Davido was responsible for three of the six missings, but I'm not going to tell her that. I shrug. "I got hungry."

Kindred comes to sit on the other side of the table and nabs a donut as Bella heads up the stairs. "Where did you get them?"

"A shop in the centre." It's his way of asking if I got into trouble. "Baltimore's nice."

He relaxes. "Well, I got what I wanted."

I raise my eyebrows. "What did it cost you?"

He opens his mouth for an automatic snarky refusal to tell, and then remembers we're meant to be on the same side. "Not as much as I thought, and now I know the back way into the sodding wizard's lair. So, you need to check where the hell he is."

I absently pick up another donut to hide my nerves. "I won't come out of it well, Kindred. It's not stuff I like thinking about."

He doesn't roll his eyes, but I can see it's an effort.

I want to lash out. I want to tell him that this is his stupid quest, his stupid game. That I'm only in it because he dangled a Summer prize under my nose, that I have some stupid sense of obligation, that I'm not required to put myself through a thorn-field of memory just for him-

But then I sigh. I signed up to help. This is just another thing on the list.

I nod. "All right. Tell me what I need to know."

Fifteen minutes later, I'm sitting on the linoleum floor in the kitchen. Kindred's drawn the circle out for me, explained some of the symbols, and then buggered off into the other room to talk to Bella. However...

I grab the chalk he was using, and draw another circle around myself and the smaller one. Some additional symbols add the effect I want, and then spring it into life with a drop of blood. The world goes slightly muffled, as if I've suddenly put earmuffs on, and I feel Summer's faint tug fade. It's just me and my flame now.

Although I don't want to mention it to Kindred, the second circle's also got some protective elements. I don't want him hearing Warren's Name, but I also don't want...well, if something goes wrong. If I'm weak. No-one else can get out of that circle until I break it.

I bring the smaller circles to life, and then murmur the syllables of the spell. And finally...

It has to be pronounced exactly as he would, Kindred said. I recall Warren's voice, the hint of his origins in the faint flatness of his tone, the careful neutrality and politeness. I try to shove away the memory associated with it before I burst into tears. It's a close-run thing, but I maintain control.

"Warren Gregor Veit Sonnen," I say, making it as close to Warren's voice as I can, focusing on the ring lying in the centre of my palm.

North. That's the best I can do with the tug, but at least it's there. I break the circles and then wander out to find Kindred.

He's sitting on the sofa in the other room and chatting to Bella. "Got a map?" I ask, flopping on the sofa next to him.

He fishes out his phone. "Someplace..."

"Uh, I'll get out," Bella says, and retreats to the doorway. "I tend to break stuff."

"So does he," I comment, but the phone seems to be working so far. He zooms in on Baltimore, and finds us. I glance out of the window. "Almost directly opposite of that skyscraper..."

Kindred zooms out. "Roughly North...ish. Well, he's still in the fuckin' tundra, at least. How long's it gonna last?"

I shrug and turn the ring on my finger. "I didn't put that much power into it."

"It's good enough. I've got a sneaky way in, and you've got a tracking spell if we need one. Let's get going."

"Tomorrow," Bella says firmly from the doorway. "I don't like ghouls enough that I want t'meet one in a dark alley."


	4. Tundra

We stay overnight in the empty house. I can feel the loneliness in it; without needing to ask, I know that the husband's left, the children are grown, and the wizard who lived here is now growing older and older, seeing everyone else die or leave. She doesn't want to be here because of the memories that have permeated the walls.

I curl up under the blanket in the bed and try to sleep. But the wallpaper's blue-flowered, chosen by a little girl, and the books on the shelf have been read and re-read, trying to smother the arguments and empty silences...

Bella finds me as dawn breaks, asleep on the sofa with the TV still on. I feel her hand shake my shoulder. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Too many memories," I mumble before I can stop myself. "This house is..." And then I wake enough to shut my mouth. "Just dreams."

She gives me a long look, like she knows what I felt. But then if she knows the house owner, maybe she knows their history. "I've put the coffee machine on. You want some?"

"Sure."

Kindred ambles in as I'm drinking it at the kitchen table. "Morning. Ready to go?"

"Yeah," I say, downing the rest of the coffee. "Bella?"

She's slinging her sword onto her hip. "So where are we heading for?"

"Tundra, first," Kindred says. "Then making it up from there."

"Reassuring," I snark, feeling the caffeine hit in. "Let's go."

The journey's about two hours. I know this land; I've been walking through the Ways here far too often over the last year, thanks to the nice little war the ghouls have been throwing at us. I side-step and weave, taking the paths less travelled; the ones that step between the Ways, that skirt the edges of reality, that slide between the walls. Bella objects once or twice, but after the first few transitions seems to realise that I do know where I'm going. Kindred just follows irritably.

We don't see anything that could cause us trouble, much as two of our party are up for a fight; Kindred's in a grumpy mood and I'm feeling the effects of my restless night, and we snap and snark our way across America, making Bella roll her eyes and snap in turn. But eventually, we step out from a rock crevice onto a wide, frozen plain of rock and snow and wind-battered shrubs, and the Winter Knight stops.

"Right. This is the first point." He turns to me. "Dollface, you're not here."

I blow a bubble at him, and veil. I see his eyes narrow as only the bubble is left, hanging in the air.

Then he pops it.

Joke's on him, though. It splats all over his fingers.

"Fucking hell! Dollface!"

My mocking laughter comes from thin air, and Bella's grinning. "Shouldn't joke around with her, then, should ya? Let's get on."

As we move across the grey tundra of the NeverNever, they're having to take it on faith that I'm still there. After about ten minutes, Kindred stops. "Dollface?"

"Mm-hmm?" I drawl from behind him.

"We're going to have to sort some kind of signal."

"Oh, you're worrying about me? That's so sweet."

I see his jaw tighten, although he does grin. "If you get caught in a bear trap, I want to be able to see what kinda mess you make of the bears."

"You're so thoughtful. I can whisper sweet nothings every few minutes?" I suggest, and sidle up to him until my lips are close to his ear. "I can tell you exactly what I'd do to you if I had you alone..."

He tries to catch me, but I've already slipped away. "I've got a few thoughts already!" he snarls after me.

"Just join in with the conversation?" Bella suggests.

"You're not talking about anything interesting." I think I imitate a teenager's whine quite well. "I'll just come and pop a bubble in your ear every now and again."

"That'd work," Bella says, grinning at Kindred's obvious annoyance. "Is she always like this?"

"Usually she's worse," Kindred says, unable to cast a snarky look in my direction so settling for rolling his eyes. "Right, I've had enough of getting cold. Keep up, dollface!"

Actually, I'm ahead of them for most of the journey. They get a bubble-pop when they reach me and then I'm gone again, scouting ahead. Most of the Way is rock and hard-packed snow, tundra-echoes in this barren and grey land. I veil my companions once when there's a pack of something nasty out in the distance, and they walk by without noticing the danger. Kindred runs off something troll-like with a quick dose of blizzard to its eyes when that blunders too close, and that's about it.

But we're all walking more warily as we get further into the wilderness. The Way peters out, and then we're into trackless wasteland.

"Dollface?" Kindred murmurs.

A bubble-pop lets him know that I'm returning, and then I slide my hand into his. "Yep?"

"Is he around?" He curls his fingers around mine.

I shrug, and then remember that Kindred can't see me. "I don't know. The spell doesn't work as well here."

"Put some more power in it, then," he suggests snarkily.

I crouch, and murmur Warren's Name under my breath. The tug from my ring is faint, but it's there. I stand and slide my hand back into Kindred's, turning his palm upwards and tracing the direction with a warm finger. "So where now?" I ask.

"Real world. We've got a walk there and then a step back into the NeverNever." Kindred's cold hand squeezes mine. "Stay veiled and stay out of any fights. I don't want him to see you if we don't have to."

"Any reason for that?" Bella asks.

"I don't want her attacked," Kindred says shortly. "Right. We're aiming to find him, or at least find out what he's been playing at up here. We're not after a fight unless we see a good opportunity. I can come back here with force if I need to, but I gotta have some evidence to take back."

"Did I catch you veiling us earlier?" Bella says to me.

"Shit, you're good," I comment, letting my admiration into my voice. "Yeah, but I can't do that large a veil for long."

"Damn, I was thinkin' you could shield us. Well, we'll just carry on as we have been. Keep close to us."

"Yes, ma'am." I pop a bubble just for the attitude, though. "Come on, Winter boy."

Kindred mutters something uncomplimentary under his breath, and then says, "Aparatum." The view through the portal isn't a lot different to that in the real world, but we hop through and the Winter Knight closes it.

"Right," he says. "I'll do what I can to disguise us. Which way, dollface?"

"How do I know?" I snap. "You're the guide now."

"Thattaway." Kindred points.

"Then let's go thattaway," Bella says, and sets off.

I stay closer but I'm still out front, scouting. We start to meet a few ghouls and nasties, and despite my best efforts to navigate around them, one does spot us. Kindred's solution is to go for his icicle-claws but Bella's sword beats him to it, and by the time I've got back to them, it's all over.

"You could at least tidy up," I comment, looking at the green-grey blood scattered around the snow.

Kindred scowls, and a light snowdrift promptly covers the remains.

But after half an hour, I notice a problem. Even with my jacket, I'm having to draw a little on the flame in my core to stay warm and maintain the veil. Despite my best efforts, Summer's coming through.

I'm alright for the first section, which is over frozen rock. But it's when I'm waiting for my two companions to catch up with me that I notice something. We're starting to hit foot-deep snowdrifts now, and my footsteps are melting right down to the bare rock. I'm leaving an incredibly obvious trail, and it's only going to get worse.

Kindred and Bella walk past me, both with the easy gait of hunters. I make my footsteps more audible and catch them up. "Kiiindredddd!" I do a flying leap onto his back, my arms around his neck. "Piggyback!"

"Ack, dollface..." he grumbles, letting me hang off him.

My lips are close to his ear, and I whisper, "I'm melting the snow."

He catches on quick, I'll give him that. His arms snake under my legs and he settles me onto his back and then does a spin, being playful and checking out the path behind us at the same time. As we whirl again, I see snow filling my footsteps.

"Thanks," I say, grinning, and settle myself more comfortably. "You're the best method of transport."

"I'll take you places you ain't never been, baby," he snarks back.

"I bet you will." I look out over the frozen wasteland ahead of us and try to shove Summer down further. It seems it'll always be there...not useful, right now. "Bella, if you come closer, I'll veil us."

She shrugs. "Don't exhaust yourself, miss. We'll just keep sneakin' around."

"Anything coming through for our target?" Kindred asks, shifting me higher onto his back. I can feel the muscles beneath my legs, his arms lean and toned.

I stretch out my hand, letting the ring tug, and then unveil enough for my arm to show. Kindred looks out over the snow-filled landscape in front of us and nods. "Ok, that looks about right. Let's go."

I can feel Kindred drawing on Winter to carry me and to blend in here, and it feels like a faint burn, an itch coming through my skin where I'm touching him. I'm fighting Summer's drive to destroy him, knock Winter down and out...but I shove it away and do my best to ignore it completely. It's making me conspicuous in this frozen world, and I need to put it away, hide it at the bottom of my soul.

I drop my head onto his shoulder and doze off as we walk, feeling cold and tired. My dreams are fragmented, switching between the snowy wasteland and snippets of nightmares as Kindred's occasional shifting jars me awake for moments until I drift off again. I see Warren, standing in a rocky cave and talking to something with a too-wide mouth and long, hungry face. I briefly dream of Tiny and Titania's Glade, filled with Sidhe and Summer Fae. But that splinters into frozen wasteland as Kindred jumps over a crack in the rock, and I murmur in protest.

"It's all right, dollface," Kindred says as I fade again. "I gotcha."

I hope he's hiding us. I'm too tired to even try a veil, and I'm glad I went with makeup. A glamour would have faded as I sleep. At least I currently look Winter-ish.

I feel Winter-ish, too. I'm cold. That makes me laugh for some reason, but I don't know if anyone else can hear it.

"Got another fix on him, dollface?"

The light around me is too bright. We're still moving; I can feel his body under me. But I'm so tired...fix on what?

"Wakey, wakey?" That's Kindred's voice. I'm swung out into air, unsupported for a moment until something hard presses on my back and my head thuds onto what I realise is the ground. For a moment there's burning on my forehead and then my cheek and I flinch, trying to move my hands to push it away.

"She's cold. Really cold," someone with a Canadian accent says.

"Oh, shit. I shouldn't have made her push it down so far," Kindred mutters. He sounds grumpy. "Dollface. Dini. C'mon, wake up. Look at me."

His voice seems a long way away, and I can't understand what he wants me to do. I just want to go back to sleep.

"Fuck." His voice gets further away, and I hear some muttering. Something about an oath, a Name. It doesn't make sense. Then his voice gets closer again. "She's going to light this area up like a beacon, and we'll need to get the hell out of here. I'll open a portal and we'll get through as fast as possible." Where are they going?

I hear my name. Not Dini, not Dollface. "Elizabeth Cornetti..."

Winter. Winter's calling me.

"Elizabeth Cornetti." And then, "C'mon, Dini, you can let it out. It's ok."

Let what out? But something is rising in me, responding to my enemy's summons. A warmth, a heat...

"Elizabeth Cornetti...now, Bella!"

I open my eyes to grey sky, white surroundings, and Summer's flaming through me. My brain's catching up as warmth and life floods in, sloughing off Winter's lethargy and making my blood flow again. I'm alive.

And then everything changes and we're in a rock tunnel with the NeverNever's faint scent surrounding me. The Winter Knight's holding me, and the rock around goes spinning as he shoves me at Bella and turns to shut the portal.

By the time he turns back, I'm standing, clutching at Bella's arms but upright; Summer's back under my control. "Kindred...?"

I see his face with anxiety written on it, just for a moment, and then he grins at me. "Trying to become Winter, dollface? You don't need to get frostbite to catch my attention."

A wave of anger floods in as I realise what just happened, and I glare at the Knight standing in front of me. "Was that just cold or a Winter trap?"

"I think you pushed it down too far," Kindred says, sounding faintly apologetic.

"Would you mind explaining?" Bella asks with some asperity.

"What would it have done?" I demand at Kindred.

"How the hell do I know?" he snaps back. "It wasn't me!"

"It's your bloody Court that just tried to kill me!"

"You'd react badly to Winter anyway!"

"Not to that extent!"

"It could be your sodding ex, couldn't it?" We're nose to nose now, glaring at each other. "You ran into all the traps first!"

"It's suspiciously too much like a Winter trap for me to believe-"

"That's enough," Bella snaps. I'm wondering if those were her children in the photos, the way she shuts both of us up with her tone. "Now. Would you mind explaining who this lady is?"

I turn to face her and smile. My hair snakes itself up, weaving into intricate plaits, and changes to a warm white-blonde - the colour of clouds on a sunny day. My cheeks flush slightly, bringing a warmth to my face, and my eyes are summer storms rather than mountain rock. I reflect my Court again, for a moment. "I apologise for misleading you, Warden. I'm actually Summer."

She eyes me up and down, but as I'd hoped, still dismisses me as a changeling. "What'cha doing here, then?"

"Looking for a wizard," I say with a hint of sarcasm.

"Why the disguise?"

"She bullied me into bringing her," Kindred says with some disgust, "but I can't be seen with a Summer fae. So if she looks like Winter, no questions."

"Fewer questions," I correct with a glare for the bullying comment, and let the glamour fade again. "I react badly to Winter, though. It made me tired, and I wasn't drawing on Summer to stay warm."

Bella gives me a long stare, and I wonder if she's noticed she only got half the story. "Don't kill y'self for it," she says, her tone softening. "I was worried."

"I can keep a little of Summer out, now," I say ruefully. "We're in rock. I'm not as noticeable here."

"Yeah, about that." Kindred's looking around. "We're in the wrong place. I had to bring us through earlier than I should have."

"Wait. I...dreamt of this," I say slowly. "And him. Talking to a ghoul."

Bella seems inclined to dismiss it, but Kindred's giving me an odd look. "This place?"

"These caves. The rock."

"Maybe he is in here, then. You want to risk tracking?"

"Do you want to get further in first?" I ask. "I can't feel the lines."

"I can," Bella says with a faint grimness to her tone. "Baltimore's got 'em too. It's pretty strong here."

I nod. "Well, I can try it." I look down at my ring but even with a boost to it, I can't get the tug to give me a direction. The spell's probably still there, but it's too weak to work now that I'm not in the real world. "I'm going to have to redo the spell, though."

"Just use a bit of the Name," Kindred advises. "It should work from here."

I look into his eyes. "You'll hear it."

"We'll fuck off down the corridor."

"Go on, then."

I wait for them to get out of sight - which hopefully also means they're out of earshot, considering I can't hear their footsteps. Then I kneel on the floor and pull a stump of chalk from my pocket, creating the circle and sigils that Kindred showed me, and then balance the ring on my palm. "Warren Sonnen," I say as quietly as I can, with the flat inflection. "Reparios..."

I can feel the spell wind around my ring, strengthening and focusing. I slide it onto my finger and break the circles. As I stand, I feel the tug that tells me it's working - although it has a different feel here in the NeverNever; fuzzier, almost. I give it a moment to settle and then pad back down to find my companions.

"So?" the Winter Knight asks.

"It's stronger. I think he's in the NeverNever." I extend my arm, ring pointing through the rock. "There's a passage that comes out into a chamber. That way."

"You haven't been here before." Bella's giving me a look that says she's not sure if she wants to trust me.

"I can feel it." Summer's still running through my veins, and I can sense the whorls of the rock around us, the carved passages, cracked by the years of snow-melt and cold. "Only a few hundred yards, but I can get us through here."

"I knew there was a reason I lumped you around." Kindred grins. "Right. Let's get hunting."


	5. Hunting

"Dollface," Kindred murmurs about fifteen minutes later, as we're hiding in a hollow to work out what to do about the pack of ghouls ahead of us. "Is there a large-ish cavern around? It's got those white drippy things."

"Stalactites," Bella fills in.

"And they called it the Ghost Room," Kindred finishes. "That's where the portal is."

"Yeah, it's about a hundred yards that way." I've shifted into the visible spectrum briefly - or at least, extended my veil so that it covers all of us. A stationary one is easier to do than a moving one.

The Winter Knight grins, the feral grin that tells me someone's just screwed with him. "Hah. Looks like I've got a ghoul to kill when I get back to Baltimore."

"You think it's a trap?"

"There are one hell of a lot of ghouls around this area for something that isn't."

"Where was..." I can't say his name. "Where was the wizard in relation to that?"

"There's a wide passage leading off it," Kindred says, "and then two larger caverns. He'd likely be in there."

Bella murmurs something. Kindred and I both watch as she sweeps her own palm in a semi-circle. "Well," she comments, "there's a lot of life-signs for an apparently deserted area."

"What do we want to actually do here?" I ask Kindred, resenting asking but knowing that he needs to be in charge. This is his little mission.

"Kill the wizard, destroy the operation, not die." The Winter Knight shrugs.

"Beyond 'not die', which of those is most important?" I ask. "We were trying to dodge ghouls, and it doesn't look like that's worked. You got your ass kicked last time, but are you willing to use both of us to destroy everything here?"

Kindred glances at me. "No, not unless we can get him. I don't want him to know about you." He drums his fingers on his knee, and then makes a decision. "We're after him. I want him captured if possible, dead if not. I don't want to alert him to our presence, which means silent killing if we do have to. Dollface, can you get us to him and avoid that cavern?"

I glance down at my ring and then extend my hand, trying to get some idea of where the tug is focused in relation to what I can feel of the cave structure. "I don't think he's there. He feels...further over? So yes, probably."

"Excellent." He stands. "Let's do this."

I stay visible, extending my senses as far as I can to map out the cave structure. The tug from the ring is leading me to one side of where I know the main cavern is, and Bella's quiet words and nods tell me where there's life-signs. Kindred's padding along with his icicle-claws out, and the two ghouls that stumble across us are despatched without a moment's pause, dying in silence with their throats slit. We're silent and we're deadly.

The tug on my ring is growing stronger and stronger; I keep one hand out in front of me, and use the other to direct us down the passages and crevices of the caves. Someone's been working on this area; seams have been widened and flattened to create pathways, rough steps carved in slopes.

And then we run into some really, really bad luck. There's a group of ghouls ahead of us, and Bella holds up a hand. Kindred nods, and we go for them.

And one gets away. Kindred's snowball hits the rock wall just behind it and Bella's hand stops him as he charges forward. She's looking ahead with a frown.

I cast around for another path. There's one to the side; I point, and we slip into it just as three ghouls come round the corner, mouths wide and claws out. Their fallen kin provide a momentary pause, and we take the opportunity to get further away.

"Longer route," I breathe to my companions, and point. "There."

But Bella's hand tells us there's more ghouls ahead. I glance at Kindred.

"Get them," he murmurs.

I'm having to stay back in these fights, which is frustrating - I can't use my powers more than I have for fear of being felt. I don't know what Warren's capabilities are. For all I know, he might have sensed me already.

Another pack.

And then as Kindred despatches the last one, more come down the passage.

I slam a shield up as Bella stumbles on the body of the one she just killed, and the lunging ghoul cracks its jaw into it with a nasty bang.

"Fuck," Kindred says, slicing through a throat and turning.

Bella's ready; I let one of the ghouls through and she despatches it with a graceful swipe that it didn't even see coming. "Keep going?" I ask.

He glances over at Bella, who makes a face back as the body falls. "There's more coming," she says.

"I can..." I start, feeling Summer start to wind through me. I'm tapping into it more than I should, but there are four ghouls in the passage now, held at bay by my shield. Bella's sword rips through the throat of the next and then stabs into a third.

But then I hear shrieks and calls. They know we're here.

Kindred's teeth are grinding. "No. I can't let him know I've got you on side. We're gonna have to retreat."

I spit out a frustrated curse, feeling my shield warm from repeated hits. "We're so close!"

"Them's the breaks. And I can't risk your power here." He puts his hand on my arm. It feels frosty cold, but I'm still in control of Summer, despite the frustration and fury that wants to get out. Kindred's right. If I let Summer do what it wanted, it would raze every piece of life in these caves...which would draw even more Fae, and announce our presence like a beacon. Summer power in Winter territory? Not good. No wonder he jumped through to the NeverNever with me when waking me up - he couldn't risk it being a beacon to the Fae for very long. And if I use that power deliberately, here, I'll summon anything within range...in addition to burning a large swathe of Mab's territory, which would frankly be bad manners.

Winter's cold and logical, and sometimes, I really hate it.

"Is he still here?" Kindred adds.

I suddenly realise that the tug on my ring has weakened and changed, and it feels like something's been pulled out of me, too. "No."

"Let's get out while we can," Bella agrees, lowering her sword for a moment.

"Damn," I spit, and start to walk backwards, keeping the shield in place. There's more ghouls coming down the passage "What's the plan, then?"

"Cheese it?" Kindred suggests.

"As fast as possible," Bella agrees.

That was a hectic flight; a breathless and frantic race against the ghouls following us. Kindred was the fastest, but then I was trying not to draw on my power and Bella's only human. So it was snowballs and ice-spears that hit the ghouls, the Knight protecting both of us as I led the way back through the maze towards our unofficial gateway.

"We'll gain time in the real world," I get out as we slow to a jog for a minute, "and then hop back through to the Way."

"Worth a try," Bella says. She's acquitting herself pretty well with the frantic pace we're setting. "How far?"

"Just up the passage there."

The tunnel is mercifully empty, and Kindred slams the portal open for us. I veil and step through to check the surroundings, and then my companions step through on my "all clear".

"Fucking hell," Kindred mutters as we're left alone in the wasteland of tundra. "Well, that was a fucking nightmare. Any idea where he is, dollface?"

The tug on my ring is back, but it's fainter. I point. "Do you want to keep following?" I ask.

"Chasing him now sounds like a good way to run into a trap," Bella says in her Canadian drawl.

"Fuck," I spit. "But if we leave him, we give him more time to create traps."

Kindred frowns. "We don't know how many of them he took with him."

Bella glances behind us with wide eyes, and then we all exchange glances.

"Well, that makes that decision," I comment, and we turn back to the task of getting the hell out of here.

It's only when we've gotten back onto the Way, with its rock walls and actual plants, that we relax.

"And that was a fucking unmitigated disaster," Kindred says, on the end of a long rant about what he'll do to a certain ghoul when he next visits Baltimore.

"Do you think he'll return there?" Bella asks.

Kindred considers it. "I probably would. It's got a nice lot of power, and he's got enough defences."

"He knows you've tried to break in twice, though," I comment sourly.

"We killed anything that got a look at us." Kindred bares his teeth in a nasty smile. "Anyway, Winter Knight, checking up...not exactly anything major."

"Nah," Bella disagrees. "A couple did get away. He'd guess Mab wants him out, and she's sent her lackey to do it. He'll know the score."

"...fuck," is Kindred's eloquent response to that suggestion.

Bella gives him a stare. "Well, isn't that what you wanted? Mab wants him out of her hair."

The Winter Knight considers it. "Huh, true. He can't go to Summer territory either, so he'll have to find somewhere else. I guess we kicked him out even if we didn't touch him."

"Where's he going to go?" I ask.

"That's your department, dollface." Kindred's still grinning.

"Yeah, whatever. My point," I comment acidly, "is that he's still a problem, and he's now got an extra bone to pick with Winter. We're going to be chasing him all over the damn world."

"All right! I fucked up!" Kindred snarls. "I thought two wizards and a goddamn-" He stops, sighs, and amends the word to, "Changeling should have been able to sneak in and whack him. I was trying to be subtle, ya know?"

I can't help the grin that crosses my face. "Considering the amount of bodies we left back there, I think that failed."

"Insightful as always, dollface," the Winter Knight snarls at me.

"So what's your plan?" Bella asks. "What d'ya want me to tell the Council?"

"Let's face it," the Winter Knight says irritably, "we just got fucked, and we didn't even get the bastard. I need more firepower."

We've hit one of the crossroads, and our path to England - or anywhere else, for that matter - is on a different route to Toronto. Kindred glances around, and then stops. "And on that note, I don't see any point in coming back with you. Tell 'em that we rooted him out, and I'll be in contact." She nods, and then Kindred holds out a hand. "Thanks, Bella."

She takes it and gives him a smile. "You're welcome, Knight." Then she turns to me. "And Miss Dollface."

I smile at her. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you again."

We watch as she strides away and vanishes into the scenery. I turn to Kindred. "So, can I go? I've done what you needed."

"I thought you'd stay for the pleasure of my company," he snarks back. "Don't you want to help?"

"I should be opposing you!" I snap. "He's out of Winter. That was all Mab wanted. Leave him to me."

"You've got orders to kill the bastard, and we both know you need me to do that." Kindred's eyes are glittering, starting to turn into the frozen blue of the Knight. "You can't and won't help him, so I'm your best bet for destroying him."

He's right, unfortunately. I do need him to do the actual killing, and after that little escapade, I need the firepower he'll bring too. But that doesn't necessarily mean I have to be involved. I fold my arms. "Why are you still on this? You've done all you were told. Walk away."

"I fucked up! I've got some sense of morality, and he's still my problem."

"So why do you need my help?"

"Because I don't know his fucking Name, do I?"

"Then I'll make you something that tracks him!"

"I want you."

"Wasn't there some problem with asking me for help?" I ask sarcastically. "Which is why you tricked me into-"

He glares. "I didn't trick you. I wanted you to come and that was the only way I could think of. Mab would never have let me ask you, and no, I didn't want whoever - or whatever - we're fighting to know about you. You're my ace card, dorlin'." His cold eyes are staring into mine. "Look, you signed up to this. Why are you wimping out now?"

I drop my eyes. "I fucked up. I nearly screwed you up. That could happen again."

His cold finger comes under my chin, and he lifts it until I'm looking into his periwinkle-blue eyes again. "I'll take those odds. Having Summer around me is dangerous, sure, but I think I'm gonna need you. Call it a hunch."

I hesitate, still uncertain. Not being Summer was harder than I thought, and to have to do that again...

An exasperated look crosses Kindred's face. "Look. I'm chasing down a fucking powerful wizard and I don't know where he is, I don't know what I'm up against, I don't have many allies, and I want someone I can trust. Ok? Happy now?"

I sigh. "All right, I'll stay on as your bodyguard."

He smirks at me. "Ohhhh, really?"

"Oh, shut it." I thump his shoulder. "So, what's the plan?"

"I want backup." He's grinning at me, and I have to smile back. "I need to talk to some people. It might be a day or so...I'll call ya."


	6. Part 2: Search

"How do you know he's not still up there?" the thickset woman sitting at the end of the table snaps. "He could have surrounded himself with more beasts, and it will be even harder to attack him."

"I've got a guide," Kindred snaps back. "That's what she's going to tell us."

It's just over twenty-four hours since we returned from the tundra, and I've only just walked into the diner located on a roadside someplace near Scranton in North America. It's on an anonymous truckstop with a parking lot outside, accompanied by the obligatory flashing neon sign that's half broken. I, obviously, haven't driven to get here - but if I had, I'm not sure I would have wanted to turn off into such an unprepossessing place.

I sigh loudly as I walk towards the table where the Winter Knight is lounging. "Putting me to work already? You can't even wait for me to get coffee?"

There's two people sitting at the table with Kindred. One's a man, with his back to me, so all I can see is his grey jacket hung over the chair and a dark head. The woman sitting at the end of the table is thickset, with black hair scraped back into a braid. She's wearing hard trousers and a hunting jacket that's a size too big for her, but I can't pin her allegiance on anything. She reminds me a little of Kincaid, with his casual loyalty.

I'm in ripped jeans, my fashionable-slogan t-shirt and a leather jacket, and I've got my Winter make-up on again; I'm a lowly Winter Changeling, mostly human with a touch of glamour. As I'd hoped, her eyes scan me, dismiss me, and turn back to Kindred as I stop beside him. "Who's this?"

"Quit complaining, dollface," Kindred snarks at me, and then turns to the woman. "She's the guide to our rogue wizard. Dollface, this is Marta."

I give her an unimpressed nod and look across the table at the second man, who has taken a bit more time to assess me. He's thin, with cheekbones standing out under his tanned skin and deep-sunk eyes. His jacket is actually a grey cloak and there's a sword on his hip that's trying very hard not to be noticed. No surprises as to what he's representing. "Do you have a name, ma'am?"

I wink at him. "Dollface." And then I turn to Kindred. "Where's coffee?"

"Ask the waitress." He jerks a thumb behind him. "Were you up all night again?"

"Have you forgotten it already, baby?" I throw back over my shoulder as I head for the diner bar. We've got the antagonistic patter down fairly well by now. Kindred's obviously in charge, which is how I want it; I'm just along for the ride and snarkily resenting every moment of it.

The waitress comes out as I hop onto a stool. "Sorry, hun. I didn't hear anyone come in. I woulda come over."

"That's ok." I rest my elbows on the bar. "Coffee, please, and something with vegetables in."

She turns to look at the menu on the whiteboard. "Uh, not sure what y'got for options there, hun. Is cheese a veggie?"

"Sure, that'll do." I just don't want too much grease.

"I'll bring it over, hun."

"We know he's been powering ghouls," the woman is saying as I get back to the table with my coffee, "and Fomor. Anything else he's likely to have?"

"He might have gained some of the wyldfae," Kindred says. "The Svartalves won't touch him, and I'd hope the Whites won't either. The Reds are probably in alliance with him, but that would most likely depend on the individual clans. The Blacks..." He considers. "I don't know."

"Any word on Nick and his bastard crowd?" The Denarians are obviously a sore point for the man.

"They won't touch him," Kindred says with certainty. "They'd kill him if he came close."

"You're very sure of that."

Kindred snorts. "Trust me."

"For once," I mock as the waitress brings my food and slides it onto the table.

Kindred leans over and glares at me, staring straight into my eyes. "Don't push your luck."

If I was a Winter Changeling, I'd probably be scared. As it is, I stick my tongue out at him and start on my sandwich.

"So, Miss Dollface," the man says, his eyes assessing me again. "How come you can track him?"

I give him a cheeky grin through a mouthful of sandwich. "You've gotta let me have my secrets, mister..."

He smiles. "Lewis. Warden Jeff Lewis."

"Could we call Summer in?" the woman asks, ignoring me. "He was part of that Court, wasn't he?"

Kindred's face goes into what I think of as 'Winter-mode'. "No," he says flatly. "I won't ask for help from Summer."

"It doesn't have to be you asking," Warden Lewis points out coolly.

Kindred snorts. "And if they learn I'm involved, Titania would be more likely to welcome the bastard back with open arms than provide help."

"That's a bit unfair," I comment. "Considering she currently wants to make a volcano out of him..."

Kindred considers. "Well, alright. She doesn't like him at all. But she still wouldn't help."

"It's in her interests-" Marta starts, her volume rising slightly.

Another snort. "Summer, working with Winter? Not going to happen. Not officially. Forget it."

"If you're after backup," Marta rejoins, glaring, "it's entirely in Summer's interests to get rid of someone who was a problem for their Court. Unofficial help could be gained."

Kindred raises his eyebrows. "If you've got ideas, hit me."

"The Knight's got free will," the Warden slides in. "A deal there, maybe?"

Kindred's expression gets frostier. "No."

"Why not?" The woman's glaring at him now.

"Do you even know the Knight?"

"I'd be able to get a message through," Marta says irritably. I wonder how. If I don't know her, she'd have to have some nice Court contacts for me to even consider it.

"Then you're still back to the same problem," I slip in before Kindred can say something snarky, "of Summer not officially working with Winter. The Summer Knight won't be allowed to help you." I'm now appreciating Kindred's approach, for all that his under-the-table negotiating annoys me. It was only due to the personal favour that I can be involved, and even now I'm hiding my true status so that Titania can claim ignorance if needed.

"Well, if you've got a contact with the Knight," Kindred drawls to the woman, "then go for it. But I'm not sanctioning it and I think she'll go up in flames when she hears your message. She's not the most stable of people."

I kick him under the table. He promptly kicks me back.

"I think," Lewis says, "that I would agree with the Winter Knight. Even if Summer do want the wizard destroyed, they won't work with Winter to do it. We are better off looking for alternatives."

"We've got one more alternative coming. I called in a favour from a friend," Kindred says, "and I hope he's going to be here soon."

I raise an eyebrow and grin, unable to resist the opening. "You have friends?"

"Oh, fuck off, dollface."

Marta starts on about the Summer Court again. I roll my eyes and concentrate on my sandwich.

It's a few minutes of repeated conversation later when the door opens and a man walks in. He's not familiar at first glance, but then I catch his eyes and experience a shock of recognition. Grey. Goodman Grey. His physical form is different; he's a stout, bearded man with a quick smile. But the eyes are the same golden-flecked, slitted ones that stared across a room at me in Las Vegas.

I don't betray my clients, Miss Richardson...

His glance slides over me without apparently recognising me and fixes on the man next to me. "Mr Kindred?"

Kindred nods. "Who are you?"

"Your friend is unavoidably detained. I have been asked to take his place in fulfilment of the debt he owes you."

Kindred's giving him a long, level stare. "He didn't let me know."

"His business is of the sudden nature." Grey is staring at the Winter Knight. "He explained the nature of his debt to me, and I have sworn to take it on."

Kindred stands. "Let's go and have a private conversation."

"Well, I'm going for more coffee," I say, and slide out after him.

It's easy to leave my mug on the bar and head to the toilets, pushing the door open so they hear the bang and then promptly veiling and turning on my heel. I follow Grey and Kindred as they walk to the other end of the diner, and park myself on the table behind them as they take one of the booths.

"Who sent you?" Kindred asks bluntly.

"Kincaid."

I can feel my eyebrows rising. Kindred called in a favour from him?

"I wanted his specific skills."

"I can assure you," Grey says with a faint smile, "that mine will prove more useful."

"What can you offer?" The Winter Knight leans back casually, unimpressed.

"I am a wizard, for a start."

"I needed the firepower."

"And a shapeshifter."

I can't see Kindred's expression from where I am, but he's silent for a moment. "Huh, all right. What did you promise Kincaid?"

"I would take his place to fulfil his debt. He explained the nature of it to me, and I assure you I am good for it." Damn. I was hoping he'd explain so I could find out why Kincaid owes Kindred, of all people, a debt - and one powerful enough to call someone like Grey in to fulfil it.

"Do you know what we're up to?"

"Hunting a rogue wizard." Grey smiles again. "You explained it in terms of apocalyptic importance, but I am sure there is a personal element."

"He's been causing a shitload of trouble. That's all there is to it."

Grey nods. "And your companions?"

"He's been dealing with Outsiders, so the Warden's here on that front. Marta is the thug. I need firepower and she was available if Kincaid wasn't. And Dollface is our guide."

Grey nods when it becomes clear the Knight isn't going to elaborate further. "Very well. I am content to join your venture. Am I acceptable?"

"What's your name?"

"We'll go with Smith."

Kindred reaches over the table, hand held out. "Smith. Yeah, I'll take you."

Grey shakes, and then stands. "I will inform Kincaid of your decision. Excuse me."

He stands and heads towards the toilet. I slid off the table and bend to Kindred's ear as he hesitates for a moment, obviously thinking about something. "Winter boy..."

He's too paranoid; he doesn't even jump. Either that or he guessed I'd be listening. "What...?"

"That's Grey. Goodman Grey."

"You're sure?"

I've moved round to the other side of the booth, where I can see his face, but I'm still veiled. I just hope no-one's watching him talking to thin air. "Yeah. His eyes. I got a longer look at him than you did." Kindred was knocked out before he had much time to look at Grey. I was the one that actually had a conversation with the shapeshifter.

"Well, fuck," Kindred comments. "That's a fair bit of power. How long were you there?"

"Whole thing." I think he can tell by my tone that I'm grinning at him.

"You are a fucking nightmare." He pushes himself up, glaring at nothing. "Why did I bring you?"

"Because I can track him," I comment, dropping the light tone. "And because you need someone to watch your back."

Grey's just come out of the toilet, and nods briefly to Kindred before heading for the doors, pulling a phone out of his pocket as he goes. Kindred is watching him thoughtfully, and then starts walking back towards the table. "Yeah, that'd be it."

"So what's our plan, maestro?" I ask fifteen minutes later, picking at a donut. Grey's made his call, Kindred's ordered the greasiest plateful of meat he could spot on the menu, and Lewis is sipping coffee with a faint smile. Marta's looking unimpressed at all of us.

"Overall, it's find the bastard and neutralise him. First thing is to work out where he is." He stares pointedly at me.

"Sheesh, couldn't you have asked before I arrived?" I grumble. "I'm not doing that here."

"Then we need a base," the Warden says mildly. "Sir Knight?"

"Don't look at me," Kindred says through a mouthful of something unidentifiable. "I'm not taking you lot into Winter."

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Marta snaps at me.

"No," I snap back. "I don't keep tabs on him regularly. I just need someplace quiet to work while you lot tool up."

"That is a good point," Lewis slides in. I get the feeling he's been in a lot of groups that prefer squabbling to co-operation. "We know that he potentially has ghouls and Fomor on-side, and possibly other beasts. I also wonder if there are other factions in play."

"Have you lot got a safe house nearby?" Kindred asks him.

The Warden raises his eyebrows. "Yes, but you are not members of the White Council, or in serious danger."

"Why did you even pick here as a meeting point, anyway?" I grumble at Kindred.

"Because it was central to everyone." He shoves another mouthful in. "All right, I can call in a favour. It's not a particularly brilliant place but they'll leave us alone." Marta and I are both glaring at him. "White Court," Kindred admits.

I tense. I don't like the White Court, and I was once told that I was a little too attractive to them. I did have defences, but I don't know when they'll wear off. "Safe passage? For all of us?"

Kindred grins. "Even you, dollface. I promise not to hand you over in payment."

"They wouldn't take me," I tell him sweetly. "Is your favour enough to cover this?"

"Should be. I'll make a call."

He shovels the last mouthful of unidentified grease into his mouth and wanders outside, wiping his hands on his jeans and digging a battered phone out of his pocket as he goes.

"So, how long have you been with the Winter Court?" Lewis asks me conversationally.

"Longer than I'd like," I respond, leaning back in the booth. "What's your area?"

"I'm based in Philadelphia. Knew Kindred anyway so the Council volunteered me for chaos."

I'm grinning. "Wow, you pissed someone off real good for them to make you help him."

"I'd say the same for you," the Warden responds with a smile in return.

"So how are you tracking the wizard?" Marta asks. Well, it's more of a demand.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "That's a need-to-know basis." If I was following my Summer instincts, I'd be playing nice right now. But today, I'm Winter - and there's also no sodding way I'm admitting I somehow got hold of Warren's Name. It'd be opening a can of worms.

"We need to know."

"No, you don't." I grin at her. "You just need to know that I can track him."

"I don't think you're trustworthy," she spits.

"That's not your call, lady. It's the Knight's. And I have him," I kiss my fingers and waggle them at her, "wrapped around my little finger."

She scowls. I wonder how long it's been since she had to deal with anyone quite as snarky and defiant as the Winter Court tend to be.

"So what did the Knight use to bribe you here, then?" I add. "What's your stake in this?"

"I'm a hunter," she snaps, but it looks like I've hit a nerve. She's going to tell me things because she's determined to prove her point. "I can fight anything."

"Oh, so you're ghoul fodder." I really should be getting her on-side, but this is too much fun.

"I'll do better than you will, bitch," she spits at me. "I'm your protection. I'll leave you to the monsters on the Way if you don't respect my skills-"

"Not unless you want to be lacking a guide."

"You wait." She's glowering. "When you're screaming because a ghoul's got your leg-"

"You wish! Winter ain't weak."

"You're a weedy, powerless idiot without any idea of what you signed up to."

Well, that'd hurt if I was the Changeling I look like. As it is, I grin. "Well, if we're talking looks, let's start with yours. Thuggish, stupid and prone to smashing things?"

She proves my point by grabbing Lewis's coffee mug, I assume aiming to throw it at me. The Warden puts a hand on her arm, and extends the other hand to me. "Enough! We are a team. We have a common goal, and this is not assisted by squabbles."

Marta's still glowering at me, and I give her a sweet smile. She looks like she wants to spit at me, but luckily Kindred saunters back in at that point. "We're all set. Ready to go?"

"Where are we going?" Grey asks. He's been silent throughout the squabbles, although I did catch an amused smile lingering on his lips for most of it.

The Winter Knight smiles. "Where else? New York."


	7. New York

Lewis has come here by car, and after some negotiating, he takes three of us with him. Marta's spoken briefly to Kindred about something that I suspect was to do with trying to get Summer's help, and then walks back into the diner. I left instructions for Davido and Tiny in the case that anyone tried to contact me, so I wonder when I'm going to get a message from them. Oh well, something to worry about another time.

Kindred's in the front, so it's Grey and I in the back. The Warden's car is a pretty well-maintained Land Rover from the 1940s, adapted to right-hand drive at some point. I'm pretty impressed by how well it's lasted, particularly as Lewis admits he tends to explode technology.

I stare out of the window for a while, just watching the scenery go past. It's going to be a three-hour journey though, so after half an hour of listening to Lewis and Kindred grumbling about the types of technology that they hate, I put my head onto the window-frame and go to sleep.

Grey wakes me when we stop, and I rub my eyes as I climb out of the car. We're by the ocean; I can smell the salt, even if I can't currently see it. There's shops with what look like Russian subtitles on their English signs, and a lot of tarmac. Ah, New York.

"Brighton Beach," Lewis supplies, catching me looking around as we wander up the pavement a little way.

"It's a little place the Court maintain," Kindred says, poking the doorbell of an apartment block. "Main place is over in Manhattan somewhere."

There's a buzz as the connection clicks open. "Yup?" a man's voice asks.

Kindred reels off something that sounds like Russian, and the door lock snicks open. "Come on up. Third floor."

We all traipse up the stairs, which are painted concrete. The flats are pretty nice, although nothing ostentatious. I wonder if this branch of the Court don't have as much money as the others, or if they've just put it someplace else.

The man standing in the doorway on the third floor makes me blink and stop. I'm used to the beauty of the White Court, but this is something a bit different. He's not conventionally attractive, but holy hell is he hot. He's got broad shoulder and narrow hips, chiselled cheekbones and bright blue eyes, long-ish hair tied back in a ponytail...he looks like a Norse God just stepped out of a casual fashion catalogue.

I think Kindred's finding it a little difficult to concentrate as well, as it takes him a moment to speak. "Are you Rob?"

"Hi, that's me. Diane asked me to open up. You're...?" His voice is smooth, and he's got an easy smile.

"Kindred." The Winter Knight holds out a hand.

Rob shakes it with another easy smile, looking into the Knight's eyes for a moment. "Pleased t'meetcha. Come on in. And your friends?"

"Uh. Warden Lewis. Mr Smith. And Dollface."

The Warden and Smith simply nod, and when Rob holds out a hand to me, I just smile. I really want to touch him, but I also don't want to risk burning him. He looks a little uncomfortable that I refused the gesture, but them's the breaks when you deal with the supernatural. "Come on in, y'all," he adds.

The flat is rather nice. There's a large window looking out over the beach, and a couple of sofas with a breakfast bar and small kitchen behind. A small hallway has another two doors leading off, and I hope one of them's a bedroom. And that the floor can cope with chalk marks.

"So Diane said you're just here for a few hours?" Rob asks. "Or overnight."

"Depends on Dollface," Kindred says. "She's gotta do some work. Got any place quiet she can go?"

Rob glances at me. "Uh, sure. Would the bedroom suit? Come and have a look."

I give the smirking Kindred a glare and follow Rob, who pushes one of the doors open. "Would this do for y'all?"

It's a fairly large room, and there's enough room at the foot of the bed for me to roll back the rug and create a circle. The floor's wood, too, so that's good. "This is fine. Thanks."

"Welcome, ma'am. D'you want a drink before you start?"

"Yes, please." I'm also dying for the loo, and take the opportunity to nab the bathroom before anyone else does. It's got a huge bathtub and shower, and I wonder briefly if we'll be here long enough to let me use either. That'd be really nice...

Rob's distributed cans of stuff as I come back out, and I snag a cold Coke before heading back to the bedroom. Once the door's shut I can't hear their chatter, so I have to hope that's going to be enough to hide Warren's Name as I do the spell.

I get lost in concentration as I start chalking the circles and symbols, murmuring under my breath. I've made some adaptions to the spell this time; I got a small pendant on my way from the Court to put the spell into, and I'm going to use blood to bind it. Hopefully that will make it last a bit longer - or at least, long enough to get us pointing in the right direction.

I snap the outer circle shut, leaving just myself and my flame inside, and then start with the next one. The symbols start glowing when I drop the blood into the circle, and I can feel the pendant quiver as I speak Warren's Name. Magic might be a relatively new thing to me, but it's still the coolest thing ever when one of my spells actually works.

There's a knock on the door as I break the circle, and Kindred's voice says, "How ya doing, dollface?"

"I'm done. Come on in," I call, and tuck the pendant over my head. I really hope the fix is more long-term now...binding it with my blood should have helped that, as it means it's got a power source from me. That's the idea, anyway.

Kindred steps inside. "All set?"

"I think so," I say, wiping away the chalk marks. "Where's the best place to test it?"

"Beach. Let's go."

The beach is cold, with a salty wind blowing in from the ocean. I'm grateful for my leather jacket as we walk along; Summer's still as low as I can push it.

"So?" Kindred asks.

I turn to face the ocean, enjoying the breeze on my face, feeling clean and free. The small pendant in my hand is tugging, and I slowly turn, trying to find the strongest point. I end up looking along the shoreline towards Long Beach.

"East," Kindred says, looking at my hand.

"It's feels a lot weaker than the Baltimore one," I say. "That was when he was up on the tundra."

"So he's a long way away," Kindred says grimly. "Well, that suggests he's left the bloody tundra at least. If he's on this latitude it means he's dodging Winter, too."

"Europe?" I muse.

"Russia?" Kindred suggests. "China? What else is on this latitude?"

"I would have thought it would face the other way for China." I slowly turn a full circle. It does tug the other way, faintly, but it's stronger to the East.

"We'll start with Europe. That makes sense," the Winter Knight says.

I tuck the pendant back under my t-shirt and look out over the ocean again. Surprisingly, Kindred puts an arm around my shoulders and we just stay there for a while, watching the clouds roll in.

"If it's Europe," I say after a while, "we should probably travel tomorrow. Will your love interest let us stay there overnight?"

"He is rather fuckable, isn't he?" Kindred says cheerfully. "Yeah, they should. I'll check with him when we get back. So, you up for sharing a bed, dollface?"

"Was last time not enough for you?" I ask mildly. "I don't know if I'm still going to cause problems for White Court vampires."

"Good point. Well, all the more for me."

I can't help laughing. At least he's honest about his desires. "C'mon, lover boy. Let's pick up some food on the way back."

We're just walking up to the boardwalk when I sense something familiar and stop abruptly. "Kindred, Summer's here. Go shop."

"On it." He strides away without a backward glance, and I walk back down to the beach. It's coming from the ocean and so I head down to the waterfront, letting a trickle of Summer out. Come and find me...

It's one of the Naiads, who comes out of the waves in a cloud of surf and foam. She's a little way out, and I throw my jacket onto the sand and wade into the water so that she doesn't have as far to come. I don't want to risk her getting beached.

"Lady Knight," she breathes at me, her blue-skinned arms sliding through the water. "You look strange!"

"A human ritual," I explain, feeling the cold ocean currents tugging around my legs. "What is your message?"

"There is a human woman who wants you to help her." I wait for the Naiad to get her thoughts in line. "She is chasing a wizard, and she said that you could help. He has hurt Summer in the past, but when I talked to Rowan, she said we couldn't help." The Naiad frowns. "That doesn't make sense. Why can you help but we can't?"

"The Winter Court is involved," I tell her. "Did Rowan send you to talk to me?"

"Yes. She refused the human woman, but said you needed to know. And she said," the Naiad adds, splashing herself up out of the surf as she remembers, "to tell you something. The human woman. She was two people in one."

I frown. "She's got something inside her? Did Rowan say what?"

"I forgot," the Naiad admits. "I did remember, but then there were whales and I was playing..."

"It's not important," I say, smiling, and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for delivering this message. Say hello to the whales for me."

"You could come and play, too..." She sounds faintly wistful.

"I've got human business."

She sighs, and sinks back into the ocean. I watch as her green-blue hair fades into the ocean's currents, and then walk back out. A trickle of Summer heat dries my jeans off, and I scoop up the jacket. So Marta has made her petition, and it's been refused. I wonder how she thought she'd get through to me. Rowan would have to refuse her...seems like a waste of a journey there. I wonder if her comment about having a contact to me was real, or just bravado. She certainly knew how to get to the Court, at least.

I'm pondering that as I get onto the boardwalk, and then spot a familiar face - two familiar faces. It's Kindred, strolling down the street towards the boardwalk shops, accompanied by Rob.

I give myself a "don't-notice-me" air and stop, watching them. Kindred's being charming; he's got his flirting mood on, making the White Court vampire laugh, and Rob doesn't seem at all uneasy. I sigh and jam my hands into my pockets. How sweet.

When I get back up to the flat, Lewis is just pulling his cloak on. "Ah, Miss Dollface. It looks like we're here overnight, so I'm going to visit another Council member. I'll be back at dawn."

I nod, and glance at Grey with one eyebrow raised. He gives me a faint smile. "I will remain. The Knight and vampire went to buy food."

I nod and take the other sofa as the Warden leaves. "Did they say what they were buying?"

Grey shakes his head. "I have faith that they will purchase something appetising."

"What they'll do when they cook it is another matter," I grumble, and flop onto the sofa. "Anything on TV?"

We're watching some kind of sitcom, complete with fake laughter, when Kindred and Rob get back. Grey's been chuckling quietly to himself, but I'm just finding it inane. I never really watched TV when I did live in the world, and I haven't missed it.

Rob does manage to cook something decent; it's some sort of pasta dish with beef in a tangy sauce. It reminds me a little of something Chinese I ate last time I was at the Jade Court, and I smile across the room at him. "This is good."

"Thank you." He looks genuinely pleased at the compliment.

"Hey, I helped," Kindred objects from beside me.

"In which case, I'm doubly impressed," I tell Rob.

"Hey!" the Winter Knight says though his last mouthful. "Sheesh. Ungrateful, you are."

Grey retreats to the bathroom, and Rob takes the opportunity to lean forward to me. "So, have you decided where you're sleeping, Miss Dollface? You're very welcome to share the bed if you wish."

I glance at Kindred, who smirks at me.

"Ah...I don't really want to risk it," I say apologetically to Rob. "I don't have a good reaction to White Court vampires."

Rob's gaze has got even more intense. "I can assure you that I'd be careful."

"It's more that I'd burn you," I say, trying to make it light-hearted.

"Oh!" He smiles at me. "You're protected? That's sweet. Who's the..." I'd guess that Kindred's making cut-throat motions behind my back, because Rob stops. "I'm sorry, I said the wrong thing?"

"It's...complicated," I manage, shrugging. "He's not really around any more. Or human."

"Well, there is a solution to that if you don't want it," Rob says, looking concerned. "We just-"

I think my face has gone white; I can certainly feel the blood drain, and I'm immediately on the defensive. Kindred's obviously had the same reaction; he knows what the White Court in Vegas tried to do to remove the protection. "If you touch her, I'll make you wish you were never born," he snarls at the vampire.

Rob's looking shocked, and his mouth drops open. He obviously didn't expect that reaction. "What?"

"What were you going to say?" I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral.

"Sleeping with someone else often removes the protection-" And then Rob catches on, and his eyes go to me. "Oh. Someone...my Court..."

"Someone tried to remove it, yes." My voice is still flat and neutral, but I feel Kindred settle down beside me; Winter's hackles are no longer raised. "So you're saying I can remove it voluntarily?"

"Sex with someone else usually does it," Rob comments, looking uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any offence."

"It wasn't your fault." I place my hands in my lap, trying to relax. "So anyone would do it?"

Rob shrugs. "Probably. It's not something I've really studied. I just know because a friend of mine uses it." He smiles. "He's in love, so she sleeps with someone else and then he can touch her. It's unusual, but it works."

Kindred's smirking at me, and I glance at him. "You wish, Winter boy!" I turn back to Rob. "I'll decline, thanks. You're welcome to Kindred for the night, and I'll take a sofa."

"I'm not yours to give away, dollface!" Kindred says, trying to sound offended.

"Yeah, because no-one will have you," I shoot back as Grey comes back into the room. "And I want to sleep, so I think you two should go to bed."

"Your wish is my command." The Winter Knight grins at me. "See ya in the morning."

I have a think about the Ways as I'm sitting on the sofa in the half-dark before dawn, listening to Grey's slow breathing and waiting for the sun to rise. It's been a restless night; Summer's tugging at me, partly because I can feel Kindred's presence in the next room and partly because I'm having to suppress it. I draw my knees up to my chest and curl my arms around them, hugging the blankets Rob found for me and trying to take my mind off the nagging flame. We've got to get to Europe, or possibly further. What's going to be the best route? The least dangerous, the quickest? What's our priority? And with a Warden, two Court members, a shapeshifter wizard and a...whatever Marta is...do we need to worry about safety?

Will he have set traps? Does he even know we're following? He'll expect Winter to be tracking him, but they have little power outside their domains. He won't be expecting the Knights, I hope, and certainly not Summer. Will that be enough of an advantage against whatever he's got?

And who else is playing? I sigh. The Fomor at least, and they're bastards. I'm not looking forward to tangling with them. Is there anything we can do at this point to destroy the advantage Warren's given them?

I guess it depends on what he has done.

Why the fuck did Titania not just kill him when she took the Mantle away?

Dawn is staining the sky. I throw the blankets off, pull my clothes on - I don't care if Grey's awake or not - and then put Rob's front door on the latch. Lewis said he'd be back at dawn, so I'll go and wait for him downstairs.

The Land Rover is just pulling into a parking space as I get downstairs. There's a dog-walker out on the far side of the street, but that's it, and I can feel dawn sheet over me in a wave of warmth and newness.

The Warden climbs out of his vehicle as I approach. "Good morning, Miss Dollface."

"Hiya," I say. "Everyone else is still out of it."

He smiles. "I rather expected that. Breakfast?"

"Is anywhere round here open?"

"We'll find somewhere."

"Morning," a familiar voice says. I turn to find Marta walking up behind us.

"Good morning," Lewis says. "Apparently everyone else is still sleeping. Breakfast?"

"Coffee," Marta grunts. I'd guess she isn't a morning person.

So we go to get coffee, finding a small bar with a Russian name over the door and a smiling woman serving. The drink's black, bitter, and the most wonderful thing I've ever tasted. Lewis makes me try some kind of pastry as well, which I love. Marta doesn't seem to have entirely forgiven me for being a snark-ball, but she's amused by my inhalation of breakfast.

"So what progress?" the Warden asks me, drinking his own coffee; he ordered some mouthful of a name, but it just looks like a coffee to me.

"He's someplace East, a long way away. We'll head for Europe first and then see where the trail takes us," I say. "I've got a better signal now, so I hope it'll last longer."

He nods, and then turns to Marta. "Any luck?"

"It went as expected," the woman says irritably. "They'll pass the message on."

"I sent one too," Lewis tells her, and I inwardly roll my eyes. Great, now I'll get two people bugging me? At least Rowan's going to refuse both of them. The Summer Court won't get involved with Kindred's little revenge trip, or at least not on Kindred's terms.

"Message about what?" I ask, playing clueless.

"Backup," Marta says crushingly.

I do roll my eyes this time. "Fine, be like that. I'm going for a walk on the beach. You'll need to take some coffee back for Kindred and Rob, they had a busy night."

I hear Lewis' intake of breath as I stand, and wonder how he's going to deal with them when he gets up there. Homophobic, eh? Best of luck to him in the face of Kindred's don't-care attitude.

The ocean's louder today, the wind whipping everything into a froth. I let Summer out again, feeling it soothe the itch in my soul from the night. I was human, once, but I don't think I still am. Is this what Warren is fighting? The loss of the warm glow, the twist of flame, the comforting presence that's always with me?

I shove him out of my mind, and open up to my element. If anyone's looking for me, now is when they'll try to find me.

No-one comes, and I turn back along the boardwalk towards the apartment. The next few days will be a hard journey, and it's going to be long.


	8. The Ways

There is indeed a lingering, uncomfortable silence when I get back to the apartment. I'm still feeling antsy from having put Summer away again, so I'm in no mood to delay. "Ready to go?" I ask as I step in.

"Just waiting for you, dollface," Kindred tells me with a snap.

Grey's still doing his shoes up, so I raise a skeptical eyebrow at Kindred and slump on the sofa next to the primly settled Lewis to wait. Marta's another few minutes, too, so I know Kindred's just being an ass.

He gives Rob a long, lingering kiss as we leave - more to make Lewis uncomfortable than for any affection, I'd think. I wonder how sore his arse is this morning. Although, knowing Kindred, he'd be a top. From what I know of the Mantle, it'd never settle for being a recipient - and it's definitely gotten worse since the last time I saw Kindred be a recipient of anything. Up to and including violence.

He does take insults, though. That thought cheers me up as we get down the stairs and out into the New York air - fresh, thanks to the ocean breeze.

I stop next to Kindred. "What's your priority for this? Speed, safety, stealth...?"

"Speed," the Winter Knight says immediately. "I've given him too much time to find allies already. We need to get in there and hit him."

I nod, and then catch his enquiring glance. "You," I remind him pointedly, "are in charge of doorways. I just get you between them."

The Knight sighs and jerks a thumb over his shoulder. "Fine. That way."

"Why?" Lewis asks curiously, falling into step with me as we start walking.

I play dumb. "Why what?"

"Surely if you know the Ways, you know the doorways?"

I shake my head. "Not in this area. He can sense 'em." I haven't technically lied with that. I can sense them too, but I don't know this area so I'd have to draw on Summer to find them.

"What is your area, then?"

"Europe."

"Britain, judging by your accent."

I give him a long stare. "Yeah. And?"

"Which part?"

I shove my hands in my jacket pockets and give him a flat stare. "Something for something, mister. What are you going to tell me for that piece of information?"

"I was simply making conversation, Miss Dollface," he gently reprimands. "I've visited the UK a few times, and found it a pleasant place."

"Have you visited anywhere other than Edinburgh?" I ask acidly.

"London..." He thinks about it. "I was lucky enough to visit Stonehenge several years ago, as well. A fascinating place."

I feel a bit bad. He was just trying to make conversation...

But someone who knows my hometown could put that together with any other detail I let slip, and then I've jeopardised my Paranet contacts and possibly Tony, I've potentially given away a lot of information...

I hate being paranoid. But I'd hate to be right even more.

"So which legend are you betting on about Stonehenge, then?" I ask, grinning. "Did Merlin get aliens or giants to help build it?"

As I'd hoped, that diverts him onto a story about one of the alien hoaxes he's dealt with. Even Marta's laughing at it - well, sort of growling, which I think must be a laugh. Either that or she really wants to murder us.

"Here," Kindred says as we approach an ornate iron gateway that looks as if it leads into someone's garden. It's a beautifully manicured one, and I tense. If this is mirrored in the NeverNever, it's Summer territory. Why's he chosen this one?

But it's too late; he's opened the Way as he pushes open the garden gate, and we step through into another reality. The sky is a beautiful blue above us, and I feel myself relaxing. I'm home.

Shit.

Kindred's not looking at me. "Let's get out of here. Dollface?"

"Give me a second." I pull the pendant out from under my t-shirt and let it tug my hand. "We can follow the Way, but we need to leave."

Kindred nods, and then I stride out. I'm up ahead, my hands loose at my sides and my eyes darting. The Warden and Marta have picked up on the Fae tenseness and they're behind me, both alert. Grey's strolling along, but he is keeping up. And then Kindred's at the back, both as the rear guard and - I hope - staying out of trouble.

I'm nervous. I'm home, and if anyone catches me...the conversation isn't going to be good.

I do spot a swarm of Little Folk above us, and throw as much of a veil as I can over everyone; Summer magic won't be noticeable here, and hopefully it'll hide Kindred a bit.

It's not enough.

"Dollface-" I hear Kindred say from behind, and I glance back. Something's coming towards us through the verdant forests that line this section, and I can feel Summer. They're catching up, and fast.

Winter and Summer are the two sets of people we can't hide our allegiance from. They'll know who we are, and they'll have questions that I don't want to be answering.

Kindred picks up the pace, and I reinforce the veil. But I can still feel whatever it is keeping pace with us along the side of the Way, coming ever-closer to the trail through the forest. This isn't good.

"It's you," I say to the Knight, for everyone else's benefit. "Get going, along the Way to the next checkpoint. I'll divert them and catch up."

I push the pendant into Kindred's hand as he goes past me, and then they're gone, heading along the Way. The others have obviously caught the urgency, but hopefully haven't had time to question it...I release my own veil and let a trickle of Summer out.

And it's worked; the Summer presence in the trees has stopped, and is now coming straight for me. I can feel the Little Folk above notice me, too; they shoot straight down, shrieking wildly.

Oh, crap. Grey's turned back. I wave him back, but he just continues strolling towards me.

"I would not leave you undefended, Miss Dollface," he says calmly as he arrives.

"Mr Smith-" I start. But at that point it's too late. Three centaurs appear out of the trees, and I do the only thing I can think of.

I glamour back into myself.

"Lady Knight!" The centaurs draw to a halt and the lead salutes me. "We detected an intruder-"

The Little Folk are shrieking down from above, flitting wildly around me, and for a moment I smile. I'm home; my kin are around me, the air's warm and pleasant, and I can relax. I'm already screwed with Grey, so I may as well be the Knight for a bit.

"This is a Way," I say gently to the centaur. "It allows free passage to all folk, including Winter." There isn't a lot else that counts as an intruder in Summer.

"We felt it imperative to check, Lady Knight. May we escort you to your destination?"

"I thank you greatly for your offer, but I fear I have no need of your valiant services. Your skills will be of far greater use in another challenge." The flowery phrases are almost natural now.

The lead centaur almost glows. They're easy to flatter. "It would be a greater honour to escort you, Lady Knight."

"I can assure you that I have no need. I would, however, ask you to transmit a message to the Lady Nemain on my behalf." They deflate a little, until I add, "I think it likely that Summer will be under attack on our borders over the next few days."

"Attacks!" the Little Folk shriek from above me, and most of them draw weapons, waving them excitedly. "Fight!"

"The Fomor and ghouls will most likely try to distract us," I say, raising my voice against the excited babble.

"And Winter, Lady Knight?" the second centaur asks.

"Unlikely," I say. "They will probably be under attack as well. Marshal Nemain will be needing your valiant strength in the battle to come."

They all straighten. I have no idea where the myth of centaur intelligence comes from - the ones I know are dumb as shit. Brave, yes, and very courageous. But not heavy on the brains. "We will pass on your message, Lady Knight!"

"I thank you." Grey and I watch them spin and leave. The Little Folk buzz around for a moment more, and then shoot off after the centaurs. I listen to their excited chatter fade, and then it's just blue sky again.

"So?" I add, turning to Grey. "Any comments?"

He gives me a short bow, smiling. "Lady Knight, I am honoured."

"What do I have to do to buy your silence?"

He is assessing me, and my stomach drops. If he doesn't want to play...

"Do you have anything to offer me that could?" he asks quietly.

I decide to throw my hand in. "I know you."

Grey's gold-sparked eyes meet mine for an instant. "I don't recall ever having met you, Miss Dollface."

"You haven't." I smile at him. He's about two inches shorter than me in his particular guise, and I like being able to see his eyes. "But we met in Las Vegas, Mr Grey."

My clothes shimmer back to the light slacks and shirt of my desert wear. My hair darkens, coils itself up into a simple bun, and my face subtly changes. I'm a mortal woman with a faint touch of Summer, standing across the room from a thief who'd stolen a book from Mab's Vault.

The moment of surprise in his eyes is real, and I grin as I let the glamours go, fading back into Dollface. He didn't know and hadn't guessed.

So, we've hit checkmate. He knows I've got blackmail material on him. He's silent for a moment, and then says, "I assure you that I can see the need for secrecy in this matter." He sounds serious, although he's got a faint smile on his face. "The participation of Summer would be a political minefield, and you have done well to keep your true identity as quiet as you have. However, I would ask for some truthful answers from you in payment for keeping this secret regarding your current mission."

I raise an eyebrow. "Three questions, three answers, and I can plead the Fifth."

"Accepted." He glances down the Way, where our companions are most definitely out of sight. "Shall we catch up before the Winter Knight decides that you are no longer required?"

"He does that on a daily basis," I comment sourly, but turn. "What's with the information pumping? I was expecting you to ask for some undetermined future favour from the Court."

"You intrigue me," he says frankly as we stride out. "I had not yet met the Summer Knight, although I have heard rumours. The previous one, of course, I was aware of, and I have heard some of the circumstances of his departure. You will forgive my curiosity in the circumstances, surely?"

I shrug. "All right. So do you want to ask now or save them up?"

"May I ask why the Winter Knight has recruited you?"

"That's not a secret in this group, so I won't count that. I can track the person we're after better than he can."

"Winter and Summer are not known to work together." Grey's frowning, now. "What means of coercion did Winter use to gain your participation in this mission?"

I sigh. "He didn't threaten me. I asked to come."

He is silent for a moment, and then asks, "Why?"

"I've got unfinished business with the man we're chasing."

"Miss Dollface..."

"You wanted answers. You got them."

Silence again. And then he says, very deliberately, "What was and is the nature of your relationship with the former Summer Knight?"

Fuck. He's got me there.

"He was my boyfriend," I say quietly, "and I loved him. When he was expelled from the Court and stripped of his Mantle, my Queen ordered me to track him down and kill him. I don't know what my personal feelings are on the matter. Complicated, mostly."

"How did you meet him?"

I wrinkle my nose. "If you want that story, you'll have to tell me why Kincaid owes Kindred a favour, and why you've taken it on."

"Then I retract my question." He smiles broadly. "So you can track this wizard?"

I nod.

"Is that a story you are able to tell?"

"A story for a story, Mr Smith." I smile. "Pick which one you want, and offer something in return."

"Hah." He's smiling. "I'll consider it."

We've nearly caught up with Kindred, waiting just over the edge of Summer territory. I feel a wave of tenseness come over me as I step out of 'home' turf...but then another one goes. I don't have to be honest out in the wilderness; I'm back to Dollface.

Kindred holds out the pendant, looking irritated. "You're better at this sort of thing."

I'd guess that the blood means it's tied to me, and he can't even use it. Hah. I slide it over my head again, feeling the faint tug. "Let's go."

The Ways are an odd path made up of memory, scraps of places from the real world, snapshots of landscapes and eddies from time. Guided by the pendant, I opt to take the familiar path across the Ocean; a half-hour walk through the waving grasses of a corn-field brings us out onto a narrow rock path, and from there, it's a slip through a jagged crack and into a narrow-walled canyon where the grey sky is only a slit above us. Just as it seems that the walls are closing in and there's no end in sight, I step through to the main street of a forgotten town where the fallen shop-signs are in a long-dead language and then, four steps later, we're walking across a stone floor with arches and pillars on either side, stretching out into infinity. It's an odd road, but one that I have a strange affection for.

Marta's nervy, her eyes darting constantly; Kindred's on edge, his hands flicking and Winter at the surface. Grey and Lewis are both wandering along, alert but seemingly content, and I wonder what I look like to an outsider. I'm wary, but not unduly so. This road is dangerous, but more from the terrain than the beasts on it. Rowan and I have travelled it frequently for various missions, and rarely had any problems beyond the moronically stupid.

The pillars end at a grey sea-shore, and I hold up a hand. The grey waves are gently lapping in front of me, and I turn. "We're going to step through. Keep your eyes on me, and tread exactly in my footsteps."

It's not the trail that's an issue, here; it's the sea, the lulling, soothing noise that lures the traveller into the waves. But if they're focusing on my footsteps, hopefully they won't go off-track.

I step forward into the waves, but before my foot touches water I'm treading on sand and the sea is beside me; I'm walking along an endless beach...

Ten paces. Fifteen. Twenty. Twenty one...and I step sideways, feeling the air shift with me, pulling open the door.

Grey's first through, followed by the Warden - his eyes are glassy, and I spot Marta's hand on his shoulder. I give her a nod of thanks, to which she just grunts.

Kindred's last, and he gives me a long look as he approaches. "Nice place."

"I wouldn't holiday here," I reply back with the same sarcastic tone, and he gives me a quick grin as he steps through the door. I follow him, and abruptly we're in an alley of whitewashed buildings and bright sunlight. The streets seem deserted, but I can hear the noise of the market from someplace ahead of us.

"Everyone ok?" I ask, glancing at Lewis. The glassy look is starting to fade from his eyes.

"Where now?" Kindred asks impatiently.

I have to hesitate for a moment. We're back in the real world, and the spell's transition is odd. It takes a moment for me to lock on to the feeling again, to sort out the tug in my head.

"Someone's coming," Marta hisses.

Kindred's icicle claws start to slide out.

"Miss Dollface?" Grey murmurs to me.

I'm starting to panic. I can feel the tug, but which path is going to be best for that? Which road is safest? We're on the other side of the Ocean now, and the Ways here are as dangerous as any other; there are monsters and beasts...

But then that's why Kindred brought the others.

The pendant tells me that we've still got a way to go; it's stronger, but not the fierce tug I associate with a close tracking. Quickest is still better, then, despite the danger.

"This way," I say, and slide the faintest hint of a veil around everyone as two men walk around the corner, chattering loudly to each other. "I've got us covered."

Kindred's still tense, his icicle claws out, but Lewis puts a hand on his arm. "Calm, Knight."

"I'm fucking calm," Kindred snarls under his breath as we pass the men, who don't pay us much attention.

There's a beggar in the street, two children playing, another man carrying a sack. Kindred's still tense, and it's rubbing off; Marta's hissing under her breath. I'm not sure what's worse - trying to work out where to go, or hoping my companions won't leave a bloodbath in the streets of some innocent Spanish village.

It's only a short walk to the door, but it's a minute of tenseness that I don't need. Kindred opens the portal for me and then we're through to a mountainous NeverNever.

Marta's first though, and is crouched defensively before I can blink. Lewis is second and draws his sword as soon as he's in.

"Stay back," Grey says to me as the Winter Knight steps through after them.

It's all over by the time I'm through, and I have to restrain the anger and irritation. They could have left some of it for me...

But that'd blow my cover. Ho, hum. By the body parts scattered around, it was a bunch of the rock-wolves that like to hang around this area. The rest of the pack must have scattered.

"So?" Lewis says to me, sheathing his sword.

I glance around us, orientating myself and finding the path. I can feel the pendant against my chest and feel the tug. "This way."

Time loses all meaning here; the light changes depending on which area you're in, and never quite corresponds to what time I think it should be outside. The path I've chosen is a walk across what I always think of as "not-quite-Greece"; it's rocky hills and cliffs, tumbling rock-piles that stick out of dusty plains. Unfortunately, the Mediterranean being what it is with myths and all, the land around it makes quite an impression on the NeverNever. This section is always a bastard, so we just plod.

"This sucks," Kindred informs me icily as we stop for a break in the shadow of a gnarled, shattering rock-heap.

"Yes," I agree. The temperature's muggy; I'm fine and Kindred's obviously using Winter, but Marta looks fairly unhappy and Lewis is sweating with his grey cloak hanging over his arm. Grey seems unimpressed, but doesn't seem to be physically affected - although he is quick to get at the water bottles that Lewis digs out of his rucksack.

"How much further?" the Winter Knight asks.

I close my eyes and tip my head back, digging my fingers into the dust beside me. We've just done the slide from not-quite-Italy to Greece - although trying to map any country to the NeverNever is pretty impossible. The next step is essentially Istanbul, and then...

"I don't know," I say, not wanting to open my eyes again. I'm tired.

"Guess," my counterpart snaps at me.

"He's in the real world," I snap back. "Are you going to open a door for me?"

"What are you going to give me in return?"

"Fuck all."

"Bitch." But he does mutter the spell and the rip opens in the air. "Back in a sec."

I step through, wondering for a moment if Kindred's going to seal it and leave me here...not that it would be a major issue, but it's the kind of thing he'd do. But then he'd lose his guide, and he'd actually have to do some work...which would suck for him.

He steps through behind me and the rip in the air shrinks. We're in a mountainous landscape, perched on the edge of a ravine with scrubby bushes around us. Greece, probably. A momentary glance around shows me brilliant blue sea on one horizon, so I'm likely right.

"Well?" Kindred snaps.

I take a moment to orientate myself, letting the real world sink in. I feel the sunshine on my skin and revel in the faint breeze, enjoying the moment to recharge myself. The NeverNever is all right, but I get almost claustrophobic there sometimes. Reality's definitely got something going for it.

"I haven't got all day," the Winter Knight says irritably from behind me.

It always takes a moment for the spells to transition, and the pendant shifts and squirms in my hand. I wonder for a moment if my quarry has stepped back through to the NeverNever, and then briefly wonder what he is up to. But it's settled, and I look up, out over the blue sea on the horizon. "There."

"How far?"

I shrug. "Another couple of hours. We'll transfer in Istanbul, and then..." I frown, trying to think of my geography and overlay that into the NeverNever. "Black Sea, from the way this is pointing. North side of the Black Sea. Do you want to do that path?"

The Winter Knight's eyes are glinting. "Oh, yes."

The Black Sea section, as Kindred and I have both experienced, is not what anyone else would call fun. It's the fastest route, but it's mountainous, lawless, and populated by wyldfae who didn't want to declare for Winter, despite their obvious talents in the area. In short, it's a barrel of laughs.

Lewis looks unimpressed as we step through the rock crevice someplace in the Istanbul area. "This path is not the best, Miss Dollface-"

"But it is the fastest," I tell him pointedly. "And I'm under instructions from the boss."

Grey laughs for the first time. "Then we will prepare for the danger, Warden Lewis."

I see a pack of goblins lurking as we step onto a rocky path that threatens to crumble beneath our feet, and I'm aware of shadows flickering once or twice as we walk along it. It's a pack of wolf-beasts that decide to go for us; I suspect their hunger has driven them into terrain they wouldn't normally consider. I sense them ahead and slow as Kindred catches up, sensing the same thing I do. I shake my hands out, wishing I had my gun, and he's readying a snowball; we both automatically turn, backs to the other, guarding our respective sides. For all my annoyance at him, we make a good team.

The first wolf to show itself gets a snowball straight into the muzzle, knocking it backwards with a yelp. I take two out on my side with tiny, well-placed balls of heat that act like bullets, and then turn to see what everyone else is doing. Lewis is just pulling his sword from the head of a wolf that's slumped on the ground; Grey's still strolling along, unconcerned, but Marta's glaring ahead of us.

"Come on, get over here," I call, dancing away from the wolf circling me.

"Incoming," Kindred snaps, busy with a wolf that's gone for his throat and instead met the icicle-claws, and I loose off two more shots. There's a yelp.

"Missed one," I say irritably, watching it break into a lope towards us.

"All the more for me!" Kindred says gleefully, slamming a blast of something that looks like a condensed blizzard into the leaping wolf as I roll aside. The pack's starting to back off now, whining, uncertain if this prey is worth it.

I let Kindred finish playing while everyone else catches up, stepping a little more quickly over the rocky ground, and then we're moving again. The Warden keeps his sword out, acting as rear-guard, and I let Kindred lead with his icicle-claws. The pack shadows us for a little while, but I think their losses - and the occasional snowball that Kindred lobs in their direction - makes them give up. They fade off into the darkness as we transition out of the mountains to a rocky plain.

"How much further to the gate?" the Warden asks.

I consider it. There's two Ways that intersect up ahead, but I don't know which one is going to be most useful...or if neither will help. "Winter boy!"

"What?" he yells back from his position on a rocky lump, scanning the path ahead.

"Come and make a portal for me."

"Why?"

"I need to check where we're going."

"After him."

I stomp up to the Winter Knight and glare up at him. "You know spells change in the NeverNever. Get me back to the real world in a useful place, or I'll step through and take my chances, and then you'll be fucked."

"Fine!" he snarls back at me and hops off the rock. "Aparatum."

"Thanks, darling," I coo at him.

"You're pushing your luck again," he mutters at me, but does step through after me.

It's mid-afternoon in the real world from what I can tell. Kindred folds his arms and glowers around at the beautiful view over the Black Sea that's spread out in front of us as I wait for the pendant to catch up.

"That way," I say eventually, pointing.

Kindred flips his phone out of his pocket and finds the map. "Hmm." And a grin starts spreading across his face. "Sevastopol."


	9. Sevastopol

Sevastapol is a large city on the shores of the Black Sea. I personally quite like it; it's a supernatural melting-pot as well as being a cross-roads for two of the Ways. It's neither Court's territory; of course, being a seaside town it's got bastard Fomor in it, but there's also a fair dose of the vampire courts and a sprinkling of more obscure monsters. The local witches here are fairly terrifying if you cross them - beautiful, deadly, and rather too fond of knives - and the White Council maintains a token presence. I believe one of the wolf-packs are here too, and I've heard rumours that there's a loup-garoup in the area. I've never investigated that, as I didn't want to have to deal with it if there was. In human terms, it's a naval port and a party town - and lively enough that it covers up most of the supernatural shenanigans that would cause absolute havoc in most other cities.

We come out of the exit to the Way; a graffiti'd wooden door at the bottom of an apartment building. I can smell the salt and heat in the air and smile. It's pretty noisy as well; shouts, car horns and the faint blasts of train sirens from someplace on the outskirts. I'd guess it's still late afternoon from the light.

"Where are we heading?" Lewis asks.

"A safe house. It's an apartment, and I'll pick up the key from the neighbour." I glance up at a street name. The pendant's tugging me strongly; he's here.

It's a half-hour walk across the city, and I'm definitely feeling tired by the time we get to the wide street where the apartment's located. Grey and Kindred have picked up some food from an unintelligible street vendor, and the hot meat helps my mood - enough to let me remember enough of my Russian to get the key off the grumpy old sod who keeps it. From what I understood of the grumbles, whoever was in there last left blood everywhere. I'm guessing that was Red Court, although blood doesn't really narrow the suspects down.

I faithfully promise to clean up any blood, anyway.

Kindred flops onto the sofa as soon as we get into the sparsely furnished apartment. There are three bedrooms; two with double beds and one with a single mattress on the floor. Kindred's still on the sofa, so Marta immediately flops down on one of the doubles and grunts when I look in. I'd guess that Grey and Lewis would have the other, and I'll nab the single...if we're here long enough to sleep.

"All right, A-team!" Kindred calls from the sofa. "We need to find him." He points a finger at me as I come back into the room, and clicks his knuckles. "You're up."

"Why can't you come?" I ask.

"I'm known," Kindred says. "If he catches me sniffing around, he'll know exactly what's up."

"Are you not able to disguise yourself?" Grey queries mildly from behind me.

"Can't be bothered." He grins at me. "I'll just send dollface to do it."

"Thanks," I say flatly. "And what if he recognises me?"

"He won't." It's part certainty, part warning. I need to make sure Warren doesn't recognise me. "Take the Warden with you."

"I would suggest that Mr Smith accompanies Miss Dollface. I want to check in with my contacts here and check the local situation," Lewis says placidly. "Miss Dollface, do you have any further idea of where he is?"

I'm getting more used to the tug on the pendant...although I do wonder when I'm going to need to top up the spell. I point. "He's definitely in the city, but I don't know exactly where." I turn to Kindred. "So Mr Smith and I are bouncing around the city, and Lewis is checking in. Are you going to be here?"

"Yeah, I've got some calls to make." By his tone, I know he means Winter Court. I definitely don't want to be around for those.

"I will return in a few hours," Lewis says.

"By nightfall," Kindred says, shutting his eyes. "Otherwise I'll assume you're fucking someone hot."

The Warden's lips thin, and I hide a smile. The odds on the poor guy taking any assignment that involves the Winter Court in the future are decreasing by the moment.

I glance in on Marta as we leave; she's snoring. That looks like fun...but we've got a job to do.

Three hours later, I've seen more of Sevastopol than I ever thought I'd want to. I hadn't realised quite how difficult tracking someone actually was; the pendant's tug is strong, sure, but it's just a line, and there's buildings in the way. Add in Sevastopol being built on a twisty coastline, and you've got a recipe for a lot of walking. Dusk has fallen by the time we reach a consensus; he's in the goddam military base.

Well, where else...

"I would suggest that the Fomor maintain a presence here," Grey says quietly. He's currently in the guise of a handsome man with Russian features, and I've put a small glamour on to blend myself in too. "This is a suitable location."

"Sounds about right." I lean against him. We've been emulating the wandering couples along the shorefront, and I'm impressed by how quickly he bought into the charade. I even got a kiss as a too-beautiful vampire wandered past. I've been able to steer us away from some Fae presences, and even though I've got no idea who else could be watching us, I trust in Grey's instincts.

"We should report back," he suggests.

My hackles are rising, and I giggle and slide my arms around his neck, giving him a lovestruck look. "Sure thing, baby."

It's one of the naval guards watching us, walking along the far side of the strip of concrete. I think the deceit works; the feeling of being watched fades. Grey keeps his arm around me and we saunter off casually. Nothing follows us, so it looks like our deceit worked.

When we get back to the apartment, it's fully dark. Marta's snores have gone, but I find Kindred and Lewis both sitting at the small table in silence. I dump the bag between them, and catch both of their glares. "What's happened?"

"A minor disagreement on our next course of action," the Warden says. "Warren has obviously been talking to his allies, and I believe there are events in progress in the supernatural world that we need to investigate."

I sit down at the table and start unloading the bag, putting the sandwiches and wrapped pastries in front of everyone. "All right, talk."

"He's up in Russia."

"There's trouble in Russia," Kindred corrects. "Fucking Outsiders are attacking Winter. But he's not up there."

"My contacts have seen him," Lewis says, obviously irritated.

"Is there any way...?" I ask Kindred, who's tearing into a pastry.

He's shaking his head. "No. No way. I'd trust you over a bunch of fucking rumours."

"Our source-" the Warden starts, sounding irritated.

"I'm sure they are trustworthy," Kindred says, rolling his eyes. "But I will bet you my Knighthood that it isn't Warren up there."

Lewis's eyes flick to me. "You're using his Name, aren't you?"

Oh crap, he guessed. But there's not much point denying it...I raise a sarcastic eyebrow at him. "The one an' only, baby."

"If I ask how you discovered that," Grey says with a faint smile as he takes the sandwich I'm handing him, "how much of a lie are you going to tell?"

I turn the sarcastic eyebrow on him. "Gotta let me have some secrets, mister."

Lewis's mouth is pressed into a thin line. "All right. If we accept that he isn't in Russia, we still come back to the question of what you're going to do about the attacks up there."

"Nothing," Kindred says through a mouthful.

"They are using Outsiders," the Warden says, attempting patience. "In addition, the Red Court and the Fomor have started attacking our people. There have been attacks on White Council headquarters, and the Fomor are taking Paranet members. We need to be protecting-"

"No," Kindred says flatly. "I'm after the person who is behind all of this. If you lot want to run off on his wild-goose chases, then do it! Dollface and I are going after the man behind this."

"A threat of this magnitude cannot be ignored!" Lewis snaps. "The Red Court are going to launch a major attack-"

"And that's my problem why?" the Winter Knight snarls. "You're helping me at the moment, and that ain't on my wish-list. If you want to go fight vampires, I'm not stopping you!"

"If the White Council does not support you-"

"I don't give a fuck! This isn't their business."

"I can understand-"

"You're not understanding. I want the organ-grinder, not the monkeys he's sending out. You fuck off and chase demons, and I'm going to sort out the man causing the problems. Give my regards to your cronies."

"Kindred..." I start. The room's getting colder.

"Dollface, if he wants to chase Outsiders, I ain't stopping him," Kindred snaps. "Smith, you still in?"

Grey nods.

"Sir Knight, you misunderstand." Lewis is looking irritated. "I am assigned to your current mission, but the presence of Outsiders changes-"

"I. Don't. Fucking. Care." Kindred's eyes are bright blue, and the streaks in his hair are starting to look icy-white. "You've got other priorities. You go and do that. I'm going after a bastard who's attacking my Court." He turns to me. "Where is he?"

"Fomor," I say. "In the naval base." The pendant's tug hasn't changed.

"Great," Kindred says. "Let's go."

"We need to wait for Marta," I say, trying to shove Summer down. Winter's here, and I'm responding automatically. It takes an effort to remain human.

"She'll catch up. Can we just go?" Kindred demands.

"Not without everyone who wants to come, and you're not going anywhere without your guide!"

"I'll take that thing off you-"

"You know you can't use it," I tell him flatly. "Lump it. We're waiting."

"Fine!" The Winter Knight flings himself down onto the sofa and glares at the blank TV.

The Warden has stood and pulled on his grey cloak, and now bows slightly. "You can contact me through the Council if you-"

"Just fuck off already." Kindred's definitely in a snit.

Grey heads out with the Warden, and I drop the sandwich in Kindred's lap. He doesn't respond, but I catch him eating it a few minutes later when I come back from the bathroom.

"Just the naval base?" the Winter Knight snaps at me as I sit down in the chair.

"Yeah. Smith thinks the Fomor are there."

"You didn't think to look at how to break in, or any of that stuff?"

He's trying to wind me up, and I just sigh. "Do you know how big Sevastopol is?"

"I'm not wandering over there with nothing to go on."

The front door opens, and Grey comes back with Marta following. The woman grabs the last of the heap of sandwiches and tears into them as Grey sits primly on the edge of the sofa, avoiding Kindred's legs. "So, what is the consensus?"

"He's in the naval base, snuggling up to the Fomor," Kindred says. "We need information about how to break in. Smith, Dollface, you're up."

"Again?" I snarl. I'm tired.

Kindred sits up, suddenly serious. "Face it. He's a fucking shapeshifter and you're good at glamours. We're the muscle. Find out how to get us in, and we'll go do the heavy work - but we can't do that if we get shot to pieces first. It's called reconnaissance."

I meet Grey's eyes, and he shrugs. "We can do a couple of hours, Miss Dollface. The Knight has a point. We could do with more information before we walk into a potential trap."

I sigh. I have a few Paranet contacts here, so I could go wake them up...and we could have another scout around the base. "Fine. Lemme get some coffee and clean up first."

Grey gets coffee too, and then I have a brief shower. After I dress, I go to find Kindred, stepping lightly through the apartment. I get as far as the corridor to the bedrooms when I hear another voice.

"...girlfriend, isn't she?" Marta's saying.

Kindred cracks up laughing, and I veil myself as I continue quietly along the corridor towards the half-open door. My footsteps are quiet anyway, and I'm nosy. Bite me. "You fundamentally misunderstand the Winter Court if you think we have any permanent loyalty to anyone but ourselves."

The door's only open enough for me to see a slice of wall, but I imagine that Marta has folded her arms. "There's something there."

"All right," Kindred says, still amused. "Dollface and I have a rather unique bond. But there's nothing at all to stop you and I having some fun while we've got a quiet moment."

"Unique bond?" The sarcastic commas drip from Marta's tone.

"She's an enemy with a lot of benefits."

That makes me giggle, and I cover my mouth. That's a brilliant description.

"And she's not lurking?"

"Are you lurking, dollface?" Kindred says, raising his voice a little.

I decide to be mischievous. "Of course I am." My voice drifts in through the open door. "But then you know better than to leave the door open."

There's a pause, and then I hear Kindred's footsteps. He opens the door wider with a half-unimpressed, half-amused look on his face. I think he knew I'd be listening. "Did you want something?" he asks the empty corridor.

"Smith and I are going to look at how to break into the base. Do we have a curfew?"

He must find it strange to talk to the empty air, but he takes it in his stride. "Dawn."

"All right. Have fun." That's breathed an inch from his lips as one hand trails up his chest, and I see the flash of desire that crosses his face. But he's got another toy to play with tonight. The door slams in my face, and I grin. Pissing off Kindred is always worth the effort.

I rejoin Grey in the battered lounge, and pause in the doorway. He's mostly naked. I've moved as silently as before, and he looks up to find me leaning on the doorframe, watching him with a grin on my face. "Any particular reason for this?"

"A change of form, Miss Dollface. I felt that something else may be more suited to our task."

And there's a large hunting dog stood there.

I nod. "Nice. Alright, we're clear with the boss - Marta's entertaining him. Let's go and have a night on the town."

I stroll through Sevastopol's nightlife with a large dog trotting at my heels. On one hand, it discourages attention; I catch a few summing-up glances, but no-one bothers me. On the other hand, I definitely get some attention from dog-lovers. We get glances from the party set, a stop by a group of drunken tourists, and then I get nicely accosted...

"He's an Elghund," I tell the well-muscled man who stops to pet the large, furry dog at my heels.

"A good breed." He grins at me. "He is not too much of a handful for you?"

"He's well-trained," I reply with a smile. I like flirting, but now isn't really the time. Grey seems to sense my unease and gets to his feet, looking up at me. I give the man an apologetic smile. "Looks like he's decided I've been still for too long. Gotta go!"

Grey's tongue is lolling out as we continue along, and I give his ears a scratch. "Stop laughing at me."

That just makes the tongue loll out further. His eyes flick to my chest, and I put my hand up to feel the pendant's tug. "I don't know. Let's stop and check."

We stop in a doorway; I sit on the step, and Grey neatly parks himself next to me. His fur's warm, and I can feel his heartbeat as he leans into me. The direction of the pendant has changed...

"He's moved," I murmur. "Maybe the base was to see someone. Or he's sleeping someplace else."

Grey waits.

I point a discreet finger in the direction. "Thataway. Let's go find him first, and then we can check about getting into wherever he is now."

The next stop is an elderly woman, her grey hair coiled under a scarf and her hands wrapped in bright purple gloves. She doesn't look much different to the other elders that have passed us, but I see her bright eyes flick to us from the other side of the road. And then she crosses the street in a fast gallop and blare of horns, although I know from the last few hours that there's a pretty constant cacophony.

"Hah! Pretty!" she says to me, and bends to sweet-talk Grey in some incomprehensible mumble. "How come he's walking with you, Summer child?"

Hoo boy, well that's just laid out some stakes. I smile at the old witch. "We're hunting for someone."

And this is what I like about both Ukranians and old witches. She squints up at me, and then says, "The black wizard?"

I know my eyes widen, but I decide in a heartbeat to take the risks. I dip my head politely to her, to let her know that she's right and I'm playing the game. "He's no longer in the navy base. Can you tell us anything?"

"Why are you seeking him? Revenge, maybe?"

"No." I hesitate, and then go with it. "He's a former love."

She smiles, almost as if she's just eaten the information. It's a juicy morsel, I have to admit. "Ahhh, Summer child. Show me your palm."

Grey's throat vibrates, the faintest of growls, the faintest of warnings. But I want to know what she can tell me. I stretch out my hand.

Her gnarled finger trace the lines, gentler than I had imagined. She squints at it, and then nods twice. "You come from a world of hurt, little fighter. You rose from the ashes and found yourself in a world of fire. You had your heart broken, once, twice..." And then her bright eyes look up at me. "You want your future too?"

"Will it help?"

She cackles. "Nothing helps the future...and I see pain and death. You can't stay away from the Winter, eh?"

I shrug. "He breaks my heart pretty constantly."

Another cackle. "You'll bind your heart to your flame, Summer child. You won't be able to fight him, and you'll pay the price for that."

Mysteries and half-formed riddles. Well, what else did I expect? She releases my hand, and I bow. "And your payment, babushka?"

And this time, the eyes glisten with unshed tears. "A touch of warmth."

I draw on my flame, deep in my core, my tiny spark. And as I bend and kiss her cheek, I give her a dose of Summer's life; I let the trees grow, the buds form, the warmth from the sun soothing the grasses and the earth, wrapping it in Spring's beauty...

She sighs as I withdraw again. "Thank you, child. Your wizard is in the building with the grey door, behind the ATB Market at Atan. There are Frogs there too, and humans. They are not kind."

Grey, who's been sitting patiently by me the entire time, stands up and stretches, nudging my hand insistently.

"Garmr!" I reproach him.

His tongue lolls out at me, and then he nudges me hard enough to knock me off-balance. As I'm recovering, he starts ambling off down the pavement.

"Strong-willed men!" The ancient witch cackles, patting my hand. "More trouble than they're worth. Better catch him up."

"I will take you advice, babushka. And thank you."

She grins at me, and then stomps off along the pavement on her way to wherever.

I bend to scratch Grey's ears as I catch him up. "Bad dog."

His tongue lolls out in a laugh.

"I know where he is, though. Over by the ATB."

I speak fairly good wolf, and a large dog isn't a lot different. Well, let's go.

There's defences. There's guards. There's probably traps. But hey, that's why the boss picked someone who's good at glamours and a dog with a good nose.

He's there. He's not moving. And we check out the entire exterior, noting every entrance and exit.

"Should we try getting in?" I murmur to the large dog crouched next to me.

His ears flick. Probably not.

"Let's go inform the boss, then."

And get some sleep.

"Oh, yes," I agree feverently.

"Why the hell did you hook up with her?" I ask Kindred just before dawn as I find him in the kitchen. Grey and I have caught about three hours sleep each, and are both surprisingly awake for it - power naps ftw! Kindred, on the other hand, definitely needs coffee. Despite that, he's in a much better mood than yesterday.

"It's the risk element," he says with surprising honestly, rummaging in the cupboard. "Like you. You've got Summer, which means you're dangerous. I like that."

I think back to one of our first encounters, when I stood up to a troll and then nearly had to pull a gun on Kindred. "I've always had that. Sex and violence, eh?"

He gives me a grin over his shoulder as he tips most of the coffee-jar into a mug. "Preferably combined. She's a challenge."

I snort. "It's your body."

He smirks. "Oh, yes. And I got the bruises to show for it. Wanna see?"

I'm very, very tempted to call his bluff. But I settled for, "Not right now, thanks. I haven't had nearly enough sleep to deal with you naked."

"I've always had enough sleep to look at you naked." He's still smirking.

"Yes," I agree, "but then I'm prettier than you are. And don't currently have bruises."

"Oh, that wasn't what you and Smith were sneaking off to do? I only went with her because you were busy-"

I whack his shoulder. "We actually got some useful information, which we'll tell as soon as you've had enough coffee to understand it!"

He swallows a gulp. "There. Let's get the gang together and you can spill the sordid details. Leave out the investigation, I just want to know the sex parts-"

"Ugh." I roll my eyes and walk out. He's such an ass.

Grey's sitting in the battered lounge, and looks up as I come in. "If you wanted coffee," I say, "Kindred found some. I also warn you that he's making suggestions that we slept together."

Grey raises an eyebrow. "I would not object, Miss Dollface, except that I do not know which person I am speaking to. It is more disconcerting than I would prefer for my partners."

I grin at him. "For a shapeshifter, you're mighty picky."

"I stand by my preferences," Grey tells me, just as Kindred walks in.

"Whassat?" the Knight asks, swigging coffee.

"Are you awake yet?" I demand, deciding an offensive is better than trying to explain that conversation.

"Awake enough. Where's Marta?"

"That's your problem, isn't it?"

"So what did you find?" the Winter Knight snaps irritably, slumping down in a chair.

I grin. "We've found him."


	10. The Fomor

I'm veiling. Grey's next to me in as a dog, and we're sneaking onwards...

Kindred took to the role of Field-Marshal quite happily; I know he prefers to whack in person but he seems eager to delegate when it comes to the information bit, so we're the scouts, sneaking in from the back. And guess who the tank coming in from the front door is? He's going to give us some peace and quiet...well, fifteen minute's worth...for us to try to find our quarry before he and Marta blast the door to pieces. I'm honestly surprised at his restraint.

I've done distraction on the back-door guards; Grey fritz'd the one camera looking at it - as the third in a series going around the building, of course. No point advertising where we're going in.

The door opens quite happily as I push on it, and it's a corridor with a human man at the end. I create a glamour of a human male sticking his head in glancing up and down, and then withdrawing again - and shut the door behind Grey and I. It fools the guard; he goes back to his watch.

And we're in.

Grey's coat twitches under my hand. Enemy. There's Fomor here, and Turtlenecks. Bastards.

So where's Warren?

I glance down at my pendant, and then point a finger. It takes us a minute to figure out a way through the corridors and we have to duck into rooms twice to avoid people. And then the tug in my hand is strong enough to push against my finger, leaving a white mark. There's a room ahead of us, and the pendant twitches as I step experimentally from one side to another. Yup, he's there.

I hear what sounds like a muffled explosion. Well, that'll be the attack team.

Grey glances up at me, his ears twitching. I nod. The corridor's empty at the moment; he's going to attack from the back, lead them back to me.

The wolf shivers, and then unfolds; Grey turns himself into a Turtleneck, accurate enough to make me shiver. I don't like standing this close to one of them...

He nods to me and then I step back, withdrawing my veil from him. He strides away, and I turn to the door. It's slightly open, and I listen for a moment, but the voices are still slightly muffled. Hmmm.

I could wait for the cavalry. Or I could enter.

What the hell, let's do it.

My illusions are good enough that the door stays 'closed' even as I open it. I'm in a large room with a table to one side and a few chairs scattered around; obviously a meeting room of some sort. There's three Turtlenecks just sitting in the chairs, their faces expressionless. Opposite, there's a second door which is shut. I drift over to it and put my ear to it.

"-want what I am offering?" That's Warren's voice.

"We want your skills, but you will have to leave here." One of the Fomor? He sounds vicious enough.

"You offered protection," Warren says coldly.

"They found you. Winter is in the city."

I mouth a swear-word; Kindred was right about people recognising him. Were they watching the portals?

"You have seen what I can do for you," Warren says, still with that cold tone. "If you don't think that's worth a fight with an enemy, then that's your loss."

"If Winter is after you," the Fomor says, "then you are a liability."

"So that's how it is-"

There's the scrape of a chair and a bang; people moving. I quickly shift to one side of the doorway, and I'm glad I did; it slams outwards and the Fomor takes two quick steps out.

Warren follows, lunging out of the door. He's dressed in a black jumper and trousers, with a black coat; strange, for someone I never saw in anything other than Summer colours. His hair's longer and obviously hasn't been cut for a while, but he is clean-shaven. As he passes me, I can see that his eyes are tired and deep-sunk, and his face is faintly lined.

And he's throwing what looks like balls of darkness straight at Frog-face. Holy shit.

The Fomor is yelling and Turtlenecks are looming, grabbing for their weapons, and I bite back another swear word. They're blocking the door; I physically can't get past them without them realising I'm here. One of the balls of darkness ricochets off Frog-face's shield and comes straight for me. I dive to one side, rolling and coming up with my back to the wall. Frog-face is now facing the wizard-

And as I lean there, I watch as the man I knew, the man I loved, pushes a ball of eerie blackness straight into Frog-face's chest.

Frog-face twitches. Twitches again. He's still standing there, but he's almost limp; his eyes are bulging...

And the man in front of him is simply watching, his face expressionless. He withdraws his hand, and Frog-face drops.

My breath is burning in my chest. He did it so casually.

The man turns and looks at the Turtlenecks blocking the door, raising their weapons to take aim...

Warren raises a hand and something explodes; there's a wave of pressure and I'm sent tumbling, despite my shield. The last thing I remember is slamming into something, and then it's dark.

When I wake, it's still to the same room. Bits of debris and black-clad bodies litter the view in front of me. My face and arms are screaming at me, and my chest hurts; it feels like acid, eating its way through my skin.

There's movement. I go to move, to veil, but I'm too late.

The pendant is ripped from my neck, and I'm hauled upright. I only have time to see three Turtlenecks and a Frog-faced Fomor, before he says, "Bring her."

I'm being dragged through corridors, hanging between the Turtlenecks, too disorientated and hurt to think straight. My head hurts and I can feel wetness that I assume is blood dripping down my face. My hair's over my eyes, and my back hurts from where I landed on the floor. My shoulders are screaming, too, from being held. I'm not sure what I can do, and I desperately try to think of options that don't involve revealing that I'm Summer.

And then we stop, and I manage to raise my head a little. There's another frog-man and several Turtlenecks in front of us, in addition to Frog-face. On the other side of the room is the Winter Knight, standing easily with his bright eyes shining. Grey and Marta are behind him, the mercenary bulking and Grey simply looking innocuous and unobtrusive in a grey suit. Slowly, blood drips down from under my blue-tinted hair, falling onto the floor.

I'm shaking, but not with fear, as they probably think. Emotions have power, and I've spent the last few years using mine as fuel for my tiny flame. And now I'm scared, hurting, tired...

I'm angry.

"We'll swap the wizard," the other Frog is saying to Kindred, "for you."

"I doubt you have the wizard." Kindred says with the quiet of a snowdrift, the silence of the grave. "And if so, then you can't offer anything for an exchange."

The Turtlenecks separate so that Kindred can see me. Frog-face has stepped around behind me now, and my hair's pulled painfully, yanking my head back. A sharp finger drags down my cheek and the side of my neck, seeping blood onto my dusty skin. "Her. For you."

Winter's harsh laughter echoes around the room. "You think I'd trade for a changeling? You give her back, Frog, and we walk out of here without destroying the place."

The fingers return to my cheek and another splatter of blood joins the drips on the floor as I bite back a sob and try to catch my breath, letting the pain sweep through me. "No deal, Sidhe bastard."

"Just a little longer, dollface," the Winter Knight says, his voice cutting through the fog, his eyes fixed on Frog-face. He knows what's happening. He knows I'm close, too close, to losing control. He knows that it's not me in danger. It's his mission; it would be a nice blackmail piece for the Fomor to know that the Summer Knight's here, working with Winter.

"If you won't trade," Frog-face's smug voice says, "then it's your loss." And then something tears down my back and makes me arch and scream, overwhelmed by pain. When the blackness retreats a little I'm hanging limp again, fighting the blackness, fighting the pain, fighting the fire that's roaring inside me.

I can't lose control. I can't. I can't let them know, hold the fire inside, can't let them see. But a clammy arm comes around my throat and pulls me upright. I thrash wildly, choking, struggling between the fire inside and the pain outside, wondering how long I have to wait before I can let the rising flame go...

Through my blurred vision I see a nightmare of coiled rope and darkness in front of me, and then something goes past my ear, a flash of black that looks like a whip. My throat is released and I fall, crumbling into a curled-up ball of pain and sobs. There's shrieks from behind me.

"Grey, can you get her?" Winter says from above me.

"I'll do it," Marta's voice says.

"No," Winter says. "We've got business here."

And then Grey is kneeling next to me. "Miss Dollface," he says. "Can you stand?"

I cling to his arm and raise myself on shaky legs, trying to focus my blurred vision. I feel wrung out, and the fire is still raging through me. My back and chest are stinging and my shoulders ache; the darkness is making the room spin.

"Get her out of here," Winter says to the man next to me. "We'll sort this out."

I start to object, start to turn, but the room's gone black.

I'm only out for a few minutes but by the time I wake, we're outside. Grey's wrapped me in his coat and he's striding away from the building. I can feel the fabric sticking to my back, hurting against the raw flesh.

"Marta-" I start. My voice is hoarse and almost a whisper.

"They're dealing with it," Grey says, and stops for an instant. "Can you stand?"

I manage to, still feeling dizzy and weak. Grey hails a taxi, which does stop. I don't know why; I must look a state, covered in blood and dust.

I don't remember much of the journey back, and after a stumble on the apartment's stairs, Grey carries me up them. I'm going to have to let Summer out, just to heal myself. I wonder where the best place to do this is, but I can't think of anywhere.

"I have to..." I try as Grey lays me down on the bed.

"You're safe here," he tells me, accurately divining what I'm going to do. "I've sorted it."

I let Summer out.

I don't know what it looks like to him; I know it does change me. To me, it's a wave, a golden fire; it's a tongue of flame that curls up from my core, a blissful relief and a gentle soothing. My back and face are starting to hurt less, and the acid burns on my arms start to heal. It will take a while, but it's something.

Grey leaves for a minute and returns with a bowl of water and a cloth. I can feel him as he enters; he's a shimmering mass of life, dense and vivid. I open my eyes, and he's back to the human man.

He helps me strip off my ragged t-shirt and cleans the wounds on my back. I'm starting to feel better, although I'm still stiff. It's going to take a night's sleep to bring me back to human.

And then I'm shivering, and not just from the cold water on my back. That was too close in a whole range of ways.

I feel Grey's hand rest on my hair as tears leak into the pillow. "You didn't betray him. Sleep," the man says gently.


	11. Part 3: Chase

Kindred and Marta return four hours later. I'm jarred awake by Winter's presence and as I step half-naked out into the hallway there's a moment of stillness as we face each other.

The Winter Knight is cold, icy, harsh. His blue eyes are shining, his black jeans are ripped and scuffed, his t-shirt is half torn away and he's covered in blood. I have no idea how he got back through the streets without someone stopping him, considering it's still daylight - I seriously hope that he veiled.

Marta, standing behind him, is slightly better. She's got splashes of blood on her jacket but otherwise looks normal, apart from something in her eyes. It's a hunter's gleam that speaks of bloodlust.

I meet Kindred's eyes for a moment, and then see him scan down my body. I'm bruised, battered, torn; my cheek and neck are still scarred, my back weeping, my throat and arms patterned in black and yellow bruises, my eyes ringed in exhausted shadow....but I also have Summer's golden glow winding around me and making me elegant, beautiful, vivid. "What happened?" I ask, as loud as my husky voice will allow.

"We killed them," the Winter Knight says, his tone edged with the blizzard's harshness and cold. "Tore the place apart. Got their prisoners out and killed every Fomor we could find."

"The wizard had already gone," Marta adds sourly, and spits.

"Didn't do them any good." Winter gives a feral smile. "Where is he?"

"I don't have the pendant," I confess quietly.

Winter eyes me and then turns. "I need to clean up. Dollface, come with me."

I hesitate for a moment, and then follow him as he stalks towards the bathroom. I lean against the doorway as he pulls the t-shirt over his head, and then meets my eyes in the mirror as he turns on the tap and starts to wash off the blood. "Right. Form an image in your mind. Put everything you know of him, make him real. You should lock onto him."

"Will that alert him?"

He shrugs. "It didn't in Baltimore, did it?"

I blink. I didn't realise he'd used that technique on me as well as my Name. "No. All right."

Warren.

The young man, sitting in his ring of earthworks, surrounded by slowly-growing flowers.

The gentle smile and warmth in his eyes as he looked at me. The warm touch of his fingers, his mouth, his body on mine...

The formality, the stiffness, the politeness. The tension. The fear and the respect and the constraints that held him to his position.

The coldness and barriers that started going up. The aloofness. The knife-edge of something, hiding inside him...

The crumpled body, Knighthood stripped, anger and frustration and fear and rage allowed to seep in...

The tired and desperate man I saw in the room, the emptiness in his expression as he watched the Fomor die...

And that seems to be the key.

Kindred's there in front of me when I open my eyes, his hair dripping and his bare chest smeared with half-washed blood, elbows on his knees and blue eyes fixed on my face. I'm on the floor, somehow; I don't remember falling, but I'm there, arms and legs askew, my hair falling over my face. I don't know how long it's been.

"Fear," I choke, wondering why my throat is so tight. "Grey sky. Emptiness. Darkness. Rock path."

"He's in the NeverNever, then."

I shove everything down. My chest feels like it's filled with dry, dusty concrete, but that can be dealt with later. "Happy?"

"Yeah. Let me finish getting cleaned up, and then we'll sort some food."

"So he's left the city," Grey says thoughtfully as I finish my abbreviated version ten minutes later.

I nod. I've put my jeans on again and borrowed Kindred's torn and bloody shirt, which is baggy enough to not stick to my back. Kindred's finishing cleaning up, and Marta has at least removed her blood-splattered jacket. Grey's slouched on the battered sofa, eyes fixed on the TV.

"He's running," Marta says with a large degree of satisfaction from her sprawl in the chair.

"Won't someone else take him in?" I ask tiredly, shoving Grey's legs aside and sitting on the edge of the sofa.

"Not after what we did." The woman bares her teeth. "That was an object lesson."

"Are you sure?" I ask. "If he goes to another group..."

"He'll be running," Kindred says with satisfaction, ambling in and leaning on the back of Marta's chair. His hair's still damp, dripping onto his bare chest. "We don't let him rest, and we don't let him stop. No allies. No help. We'll get him."

"Although," Grey comments, "not right now."

Night is falling, and with it, the supernatural world comes alive.

Winter's jaw tenses, but then he nods. "No point running into a pack of ghouls if we don't have to."

"If we push him..." Marta starts.

Kindred's shaking his head. "Grey's right. It's adding danger."

I'm drumming my fingers on my knee. "He's going to have the time to set traps, though."

"Still no," Kindred says flatly. "We take that risk. If he throws ghouls at us in the dark, that's nasty enough." His eyes are on me, and I know what he's not saying. Darkness is Winter territory, and I'm most at risk. I've just proved that I'm a liability, and he can't risk that again.

I want to cry, which I hope is just tiredness and exhaustion. He's using the human! What does he expect?

Unexpectedly, the Winter Knight smiles at me. "We'll go at dawn."

Grey and Marta head out into the city to get some food, and Kindred stays with me. We need to create another tracking item, and I freely admit that he's got far more expertise than I have in the spellwork. He takes that compliment with a smug smile and a cheery, "Glad you've finally accepted my talents, sweetcheeks."

"Only for that," I throw back, wincing as I stretch to chalk a mark. I've taken the t-shirt off again, letting the wounds on my back out to the air. Luckily Kindred doesn't seem too distracted by what's on display.

"And in bed." Ok, I take that back. He's distracted.

"Eh, you're in the top ten there."

That seems to really offend him. "Top ten?"

"You should try harder."

"I don't think I'm the one that needs to try." He's sounding pretty pissed off, and I hide a grin.

"Concentrate, Winter boy. What can I put this into?"

That diverts him, although I do hear a grumble of "top ten" repeated every few minutes. I'm going to pay for that, I know it...

We go for an unexpected combination of a broken safety-pin on an elastic band. Kindred seems doubtful, but I'm happy enough putting the spell into it. He tweaks the spell enough that it'll work with metal and then hovers in the doorway while I finish the circles on the bathroom floor.

I think he's expecting me to shoo him out, but I figure it's as good a time as any to test the second circle. And bingo, as soon as it's sealed I can't hear the city; it's just me and Summer. Kindred catches what I've done, scowls, and vanishes. I grin to myself and get on with the spell.

He's back by the time I've got it working; I think my impromptu scrying earlier did something and I have to stop myself crying the first time I say Warren's Name, suddenly overwhelmed by memories. I stop the spell, compose myself, and then try again. This time, it's under control enough that the spells takes.

The tracker confirms what we knew; he's not in the city and I can't confirm the direction with anything more than a broad sweep. If he's in the NeverNever, my tracking spell won't trace him properly anyway.

"We'll have to wait until he resurfaces," I say, standing up and stretching.

"That's fine. Nice work," Kindred says from where he's leaning in the doorway.

"Was that a compliment?" I say with mock astonishment. "Wow, that's unusual. What do you want?"

"Hey, I tell the truth sometimes." He gives me a half-smile, his eyes drifting down my still-battered body as I pull his torn t-shirt over my head. "You're beautiful, sexy, can hold a conversation, good in bed - and you're definitely in my top three, by the way-"

"What, top three most sarcastic people you know? I'm flattered," I shoot back, bending to wipe the chalk marks and drops of blood away.

"Are you blushing, dollface?" he asks, sounding almost incredulous.

"Shut up."

"You are blushing. I didn't even know you could." His expression is somewhere between amused and malicious.

"Shut up." I stand and wipe my dusty hands on my jeans.

"If I'd known it did that, I'd compliment you more often. You have the most gorgeous eyes-"

"Shut up, Kindred!" I shove past him, suddenly on the verge of tears again. He'd once asked me, back when he was still an Emissary, why I'd chosen the Summer Knight as my partner and lover. Why not me, he'd spat.

And I'd told him; kindness.

It's moments like this that make me see that all the more clearly. It's these seconds that make me rage against the world for what it took away, and what it left behind.

He means the compliments. He truly does think I'm everything he's named. But he can't open up enough to show any weakness. No cracks. No empathy. No gentleness. No kindness.

And the man I miss, the other man, the one who was kind; he no longer exists.

Marta and Grey are in the hall, but I simply walk past them. "What's up with her?" Marta's voice asks.

And as I step out of the door, I hear Kindred's half-bemused, half-sarcastic response; "I complimented her."

I sit on the doorstep of the apartment, letting the tears out. My chest still aches, and I'm not sure it will ever stop; I'll just get used to it.

He's gone. He's completely gone.

I haven't met Nemesis before, not in such a personal context. The bodies on the floor just to demonstrate how completely and utterly Warren has changed from the man I knew.

I shiver.

I've still got Summer locked inside; I don't dare let it out as more than a trickle to maintain my veil while I'm out here. I didn't ask to be given it; I didn't ask for the fire, for my tiny flame, for the warmth and alien power and bitter knowledge. Summer is beautiful, and kind, and lonely.

Did Warren deliberately choose it? He was tired, lonely, old; he knew that life had passed him by while he had been in the service of sunshine. Did he choose to throw his lot in with the Outsiders?

Or was it forced?

I don't know which option would make me feel better.

I'm just starting to wonder whether I want to go back in when I hear footsteps. I know Kindred's tread, and it's not him...but Grey's shoes and light trousers stop next to me on the step. "I have been asked to obtain some food, Miss Richardson. Would you care to join me?"

I don't bother scrubbing my red, raw eyes; my glamour means that I look entirely normal to anyone outside. I stand and let my arms fall, trying to affect the Winter changeling that I'm pretending to be. "Sure thing."

He offers me his arm, and the gesture is oddly reassuring. Having another human nearby is a dose of normality that I sincerely need.

"Do you know anything about Nemesis?" I ask quietly as we walk through the quiet streets.

He shakes his head. "Be careful with that name, Miss Dollface. It has power. But no. It is my understanding that it is mostly the Fae who have been fighting it. You most likely know more than me."

I sigh. "I only saw the effects." I'm still staring straight ahead, and we walk for a while in silence. And then I ask, "Does the loneliness ever get better as you age?"

"It helps to find others," Grey's voice says, as calm and imperturbable as ever. "But you are not a natural wizard, are you, Miss Dollface?"

I shake my head.

"Then you have nothing to fear."

"I won't live...I'm just human? Even with Summer?"

He nods.

And somehow, that is reassuring. I won't have to face Warren's loneliness. The problems of the Court are still there, but...

Kindred's icicles plunge into my chest. The Malks, claws in my shoulder and my body pressed into the snow, teeth sharp on my neck. The Black Court, smelling of death and decay, their claws and teeth reaching for me. Summer's fire, whirling round me, fierce and all-consuming. Or just a slip, a fall, a lucky knife-strike from an opponent or a moment of rage from the world...

I am human. I live with death every day. It'll just come a little sooner than I had thought.

And I laugh.

It doesn't take us long to find a small, battered fast-food shop, and when we return with a bagful of burgers we find Marta has taken the sofa and Kindred's lounging on the battered chair. He gives me a faintly wary look as I come in which I just return with a bland stare, and we're back to normal. Grey pushes Marta's legs off the sofa and I sit on the floor, and then everyone tears into the meal. I feel like I haven't eaten in days, even though I know I have; Summer's healing does come at a cost, and I've still got some more to do. I'm stiff and bruised, even though the wounds have mostly healed.

"So, Miss Dollface," Grey says as we all slow down. "Can you tell us anything about the wizard's magic?"

"What do you know already?" I ask reluctantly.

"He was formerly Summer, but I assume that he is no longer able to draw on this power," Grey says frankly. "Beyond that, he obviously has some talent and is a capable user. His spells seem to tap into the leylines when it comes to augmenting others, but I have no experience with him personally."

I raise an eyebrow at Kindred.

The Winter Knight scowls. "We didn't get to him."

"We did," Marta corrects, smiling in a slightly vindictive manner. "He hit you."

My eyes flick back to Kindred, whose scowl deepens. "He surprised me, ok? We came round a corner and he got a nice blow on my shield. By the time I'd recovered, he'd gone."

Marta snorts. "He blew you backwards."

"I didn't see you helping!"

"I was fighting," Marta replies bluntly.

A grin is creeping across my face. Kindred turns the scowl back to me again. "Shut up, dollface. Tell us something useful, as you're the one who used to fuck him."

"That's not fighting," I comment dryly.

"You know most about him! Spill some beans."

"You had more experience with him," I snap, "as a member of Winter."

"I only ever saw him at the Solstices. In case your memory's slipping along with the rest of your morals, I became the Knight after he got stripped."

I throw a chip at him. "I don't know anything about his magic. I only ever saw him as the Knight, and he rarely did anything like that."

"What of his history?" Grey asks quietly.

"He's old," I comment after a pause. "Over a hundred. His family...likely dead. He's German, originally, and..." I pause again, remembering the conversation with Warren. "He loved a changeling, but she...I don't think there's anything to tie him to this world any more. He would have gone to them already if he did have anyone."

"Why did he get stripped?" Marta asks bluntly.

I meet Kindred's eyes. The Winter Knight frowns, and then shrugs. I take that as permission. "He's got Nemesis in his head," I say. "He's allied to Outside."

"Which explains his calls on Outsiders to attack Winter," Grey says. "Did Warden Lewis know this?"

I look at Kindred, who shrugs again. "I told the Council. Whether they passed the information on...anyway, fuck 'em. They're fighting their own battles."

"So we have a Nemesis'd wizard with ties to..." Marta starts.

"You were warned," Kindred says bluntly. "That's what I hired you for."

Grey's eyes are glittering. "It isn't a problem, Sir Knight. It's just nice to know your enemies."

"You'd have to speak to dollface about that." Kindred smirks at me.

I meet his eyes across the room. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Sir Knight."


	12. Georgia

I wake just before dawn, feeling better than I have in days; Summer has wound through me, healing and reviving me. I grab a quick shower and manage to disconcert Grey as he bumps into me. I'd guess the shapeshifter isn't used to half-naked women wandering around - although why, I don't know. For someone who's usually so sanguine, he sure does blush well.

He goes even redder when I tell him that, and keeps his eyes anywhere but on me. "Miss Dollface, it's not that I object to your physical form, it is simply-"

"Stop flirting," Kindred orders loudly from the kitchen. "We're on a schedule here."

"Slavedriver," I snark at him, but do go and find my clothes. Kindred somehow obtained two new t-shirts, and handed me the white one with something weird in Russian on it. By the time I'm dressed, everyone else is ready.

"So?" Marta snaps at me as I come into the lounge.

I stretch out my wrist with the elastic band on it, letting the safety pin move, and then bend over Kindred's phone. I'm definitely getting better at estimating distances. "That direction...and it's not nearly as far as it was. Maybe...there?" I plonk a finger on the map.

"What's there?" Kindred asks sarcastically.

"Georgia," Grey says. "That's a large area."

"Well, we can get closer," Marta says.

The rest of the day is broken and jarring. It's a trail that I don't know as well, and we hop in and out of the NeverNever pretty frequently. That's in addition to the troll that catches our tail and eventually requires Marta to scare it off, and another pack of rockwolves that Kindred runs off. It works off some of his temper, at least.

By what I think of as the evening, we're across the sea. The path we're on is along the side of a mountain; a stone wall on one side holds back the earth, with roots trailing over it and trees leaning over us. On the other, the rock falls away down into a valley scattered with yellowed leaves and green foliage. I stop briefly to touch a blood-red poppy growing out of a crack, feeling the life against my fingers and the memories stained into the earth. Someone died here, once...

One for sorrow, two for joy...

Although that's magpies, and it only goes up to eight. My palm trails across the silky petals of the blood-trail going up the side of the stone and into the jagged cracks of rock. There aren't enough numbers for all the death here.

"Miss Dollface?" Grey's voice says quietly from behind me.

I look up and realise that I've stopped, the flowers against my palm, unaware of time for an instant. I'm more tired than I thought.

"We're going to have to stop soon," I say as I turn. My eyes feel sandy and I'm exhausted. I'm not sure I was fully healed from those damn Frogs; my back hurts again.

"Yeah," Kindred agrees from a little way down the path. He's short-tempered and snarling, annoyed at having to open constant portals for me.

"Where are we?" Grey asks as the duo catch up to us, and then holds up a hand. "Without the sarcasm, please, Sir Knight."

"Well, we've definitely hit the other side of the Black Sea," Kindred says. "And considering I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable, I'd say someplace in Summer territory."

"Near Sochi," I put in.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"I recognise this bit."

Kindred turns back to Grey. "Near Sochi."

"All right, so where are we going?"

"Kutaisi," I say, feeling the tracking-pin tugging at my wrist.

"Dollface," Kindred says irritably. "I thought you-"

And then he spots his phone in my hand, with the maps open. I get a glare, and he snatches for it.

"You'll break it," I tell him, stepping neatly away.

"Give me back my phone, you-" the Winter Knight starts.

Grey puts himself between us. "I would argue that Miss Dollface has greater need of it right now." He turns to me. "Is he moving?"

"No. Not for the last hour or so."

"Then we are closing in. Let us get closer, and see what we can do."

We step out again in some mountains, and I feel the sun on my skin and the breeze moving the leaves as I wait for the maps to catch up with us. The safety pin's direction hasn't moved, again, and I'm narrowing it down. "There. That line."

We've definitely passed midday, and Grey squints at the sky. "Miss Dollface, could you do me a kindness, and see if you can find a small village named Zarati?"

It takes me a few minutes. "Yeah. Just north of Kutaisi."

"How close is it to the line of our quarry?"

I trace it, as best I can. "Uh. Pretty much on top of, but it's hard to tell at this distance."

"Then we will head for St Kvirike. There is a Venatori contact there."

We come out of the NeverNever into a land of rocky hills and scrubby green bushes, occasional graceful trees and a sinking sun. I like it here; it's a hard land but it's almost neutral, swinging between Summer and Winter with the extremes of the weather. However, that doesn't mean I'm not nervous. We're very exposed here - the gate comes out into thin air. Not the best of places, and I push a veil out to cover us as we step through.

"It isn't far," Grey says. "Towards the village there."

There is a collection of low buildings a few hundred yards away, and sticking up from behind them is a large rock outcrop with a square building on top, surmounted by a tower. As we start to walk, I realise it's not a tower - it's a church. Duh, of course the Venatori would be in a church - and hopefully it's a safe place, too. We should be able to sleep.

The village is large than I'd thought - we're just on the outskirts, and it looks as if it dips down into a bit of a hollow. Some of the buildings are brick and some are concrete; they have thick shutters and chimneys belching smoke. There are a few people around, but I simply strengthen the veil I've had around us since we stepped out of the gate.

I crack it as we approach the church door and Grey knocks - no need to freak the poor priest out with unseen figures speaking to him, is there?

The knock sounds hollow, but Grey stands back and folds his hands, waiting. I glance up at the building as I wait. It's sturdier construction than I had taken it for; it looked about to fall down from the valley floor. Now, I realise that it's twice the height of me, and has an additional building on the side. It's bigger than I'd taken it for.

A few minutes later, the Church door cracks open. "Ja?"

Grey says something in a language that's almost Latin, and I wonder what the codeword means. The eye is silent for a second, and then there's a rapid-fire that I don't get a word of. Kindred catches my eye, and we exchange a mutual "what the fuck" moment.

Grey smiles as the door opens further, and transfers back to English as he holds out a hand. "Ivan, it is good to see you."

"I cannot say the same for you," the man inside says. "But no matter. What name are you calling yourself today?"

"Smith," Grey says, not at all put out by the faint hostility.

"Then please come in, be welcome into my church, and may His blessing be upon you."

Grey steps in, and then it's Kindred. He gets a similar greeting and a handshake, and then I can finally see Ivan. He's slightly shorter than me, but his beard more than makes up for it; it's long, bushy and tangled. His robes are faintly grubby but I get the sense that's nothing unusual here. I mean, I probably don't smell wonderful at the moment, and I don't want to know what my clothes look like.

Marta gives a short nod as Grey introduces her and invites her in, and then it's my turn.

"Miss Dollface," Grey says.

"Please, come in, be welcome." Ivan's assessing my face, and I get the odd feeling that he knows I'm doing magic. I don't feel any different as I step inside, but it's only when the door shuts that I drop the veil outside.

Inside is definitely bigger than I'd expected. The actual church is quite small, with your standard benches and painted walls. But there's another door to the side and one at the end, and as Ivan leads us through, I realise it's living quarters. The few opens doors lead to small cells with mattresses and blankets in, and the penultimate room is a larger one with a table and benches around it, as well as a small TV and a bookshelf crammed with texts. The last room is a tiny kitchen

"So," Ivan says, gesturing for us to sit. "Why are you bothering me?"

"We are following someone," Grey tells him.

Ivan just waits, unimpressed.

I stretch out my wrist and let the pin shift in the direction of our quarry. "He's nearby. What do you know about the area?"

Ivan waves a hand at Kindred. "Up, that shelf. The map."

It takes Kindred a minute - and some more instructions - to find it, but eventually we get it laid out onto the table.

"From Sevastopol," I say, "he was on this alignment...pretty much heading for Tbilisi."

Grey shifts the map around to face North, and then traces the current alignment. "He's behind us."

I nod. I'd felt the shift as soon as we stepped out of the NeverNever. Whether he will be tomorrow, I don't know...but it's a good sign for now.

Ivan pokes a finger at Kindred. "Pen!"

"All right!" the Winter Knight grumbles, pulling one out of the mass of papers on the shelf.

Ivan traces the line, and then puts my one on. "Humph. This area, then."

"What's around here to attract a wizard?" Kindred asks.

Ivan snorts. "This is Georgia. Werewolves and vampires."

"What sort of vampires?" Kindred asks.

Ivan just gives him a blank look.

"Black Court, then," I say, feeling a sinking in my chest. "They're pretty much the only option now, aren't they?"

"No ghouls in this area?" Kindred asks.

Ivan shrugs.

"So what is in that area?" I ask, looking at the map. There isn't a lot marked on it, but there must be some reason that...he...has stopped there.

"Caves," Ivan says after a hesitation. "The Caves of Prometheus."

"Vampires?" Marta asks.

Ivan reluctantly nods.

"He's in some caves with a whole bunch of Black Court. Well, that sounds like a party and a half," Kindred snarls.

"Fun," Marta says, grinning.

"For you, maybe." Kindred's drumming his fingers. "Ivan, what can you tell us about the Caves?"

Ivan shrugs. "Big caves, lots of tunnels. A tourist place. And vampires."

"It makes sense," I say, resting my chin on my hand. "He doesn't have a lot of other options."

"He could just be throwing them at us."

"We're ahead of him," I comment. But Grey's eyes are fastened on me, suddenly, and my stomach drops.

"Miss Dollface..." the shapeshifter says. "If you are tracking him, can he track you?"

Kindred starts to grin. "And now you see my cunning plan, Smith. He doesn't know she's here."

"I hope," I say with a sigh, "that he won't think to. I shouldn't be here."

Grey nods. "Then he doesn't know where we are. Do we have a plan of attack?"

"Not tonight," Kindred says shortly. "I'm not walking into a Black Court nest in the middle of the night. We sleep, and if he's still there in the morning, we go and hose the bastards. If he's not, we keep following."

Grey nods again, and turns to Ivan. "Can we presume on your hospitality?"

"For one night, Mr Smith," the priest says. "Because your ladies are tired."

Marta glowers. I just smile. "You're a sweetheart, Ivan."

Grey translates the word when Ivan looks confused, and the priest laughs. "I am not sweet, Miss Dollface. But I thank you. I will show you rooms."


	13. Night

"I'm stealing you, dollface," Kindred says to me half an hour later, catching up with me in the tiny kitchen. There's a gas hob with a kettle on, and some battered frying pans hanging on the wall. There's also, incongruously, a Mickey Mouse clock. I wonder where it came from, and then realise it's only 5pm. I have no idea what time my body thinks it is.

"I need sleep, Kindred..." I grumble, trying to find a glass.

"That's the point. There aren't enough beds, so I'm stealing you. I figured you wouldn't mind sharing with me." He's got the smirk on again.

"Didn't Ivan kick up a fuss?"

"Everyone else is already completely out of it." Kindred gives a nonchalant shrug. "They're not in a position to object."

"Why not Marta?" I snap.

"I need sleep."

"So you're talking to me?"

"You make a good hot water bottle." He grins at me.

"Ugh, fine." It's not like I have an option. I get my glass of water and drain it, and then pad after Kindred along the narrow corridor.

The second-to-last cell is empty, apart from the fairly wide mattress with a heap of blankets. Kindred flops himself down, still in his jeans and t-shirt, and starts pulling blankets out from under his feet as I shuck off my jacket and jeans, leaving the elastic band around my wrist. He shifts over on the mattress to let me lie down and I wrap my arms around him, curling against his chest and burying my head in his shoulder.

"Hey, what's up?" he asks gently, and I feel the blanket and an arm wrap around me in an unusually tender gesture. "Wimping out on me, dollface?"

"I just need some time away from my own head," I admit into his shoulder.

"Anything in particular?" His chest hums as he speaks.

"The usual."

"Ex-boyfriends, problem Queens and bastard Frogs? Know that lot."

"Ex-boyfriends?" I ask, turning my head so that it's lying on his shoulder. He's cool against me, but he's mostly human at the moment and it is helping.

"Well, yours. I don't have any."

"Who have you dated?" I ask, curious.

He considers it. "What do you count as dating?"

I have to think about that. "Uh, have an ongoing thing with?"

"You. A few of the Sidhe, but that's more business. Uh, there's been one Red Court vampire who's been off and on...and that's about it. I just take 'em and leave 'em."

"That sounds like you." I just lie in his arms, enjoying the contact and trying to stop my head worrying. It's going in circles and it's annoying me. There's nothing I can do about any of it, anyway...tomorrow is likely to be difficult and dangerous, but I can't worry about it.

Kindred's hand starts to run up and down my back, reassuring and gentle. "So, while you're here..." he teases. "Wanna get some practise in? I've apparently got some ranks to climb."

I know a word will stop him; he's being nice for once. But I don't want him to stop. I lift my head and press my lips against his.

I don't think he expected that at all; there's a momentary pause before he kisses back and his hand slides around me more firmly.

"Given up on your protection, dollface?" he asks as I pull away and my hand slides up under his t-shirt.

"I don't think I have it any more anyway," is my response as I tug the shirt up, and he sits up to pull it over his head.

We're both tired, but both of our Mantles stay under control; the half-light and closeness seems to help, and I just need to be human. His arms stay round me and I keep my lips on his, and we become a tangle of legs and skin, breathing together as we move. It feels like Summer again, a golden warmth that just overflows and spills through me, and I wonder if he can feel it too.

As our heartbeats slow, my lover wraps his arms easily around me and I settle next to him, curving myself against his lanky frame. The night is enough of a blanket, and I hear his breathing slow against my cheek. For all his faults, he is comfortable. It's sort of a shame we're mostly antagonistic to each other; we'd get on nicely if it wasn't for the whole cynicism-and-snark thing. Oh, and the opposing Courts. That kinda screwed everything permanently.

It's very quiet; his breathing is pretty much the only sound and I let my mind wander, just listening absently. I'm halfway to sleep when there's a sound outside and Kindred twitches awake, disturbing me. I'm just drifting off again when an owl hoots and that brings him half-up, his hands tightening on my side.

"It's an owl," I murmur, and he grumbles something as he settles back again.

The third time, I'm almost fully asleep, and he gets inarticulate noises of protest as I force myself to wake. He's not usually this bad, and it's getting annoying. "Can't you just sleep? We're safe here."

"I'm not safe anywhere," the Winter Knight mumbles, his voice laced with something like pain. "Anyway, even a church isn't safe."

I lift myself from where I'm lying on his chest, and push myself up a little. "Safe enough, and I'll keep watch. Kindred, sleep..."

And I give him a dose of Summer healing as I kiss him. My lips are warm and the air's sweet, the sunshine wrapping around him and driving everything away, letting him sink down, nothing to worry about and no cares that matter...

I watch him go, his face relaxing and his eyes flicking closed. He hasn't even fought it, not that I could do that in anger. It's come straight from the heart, through Summer's desire to help and heal.

I disentangle myself from him as he sighs and then pull the blankets back over him to make sure he's warm. He's relaxed for the first time in a long time, and I risk a gentle kiss on his forehead, lightly reinforcing Summer's touch. He'll sleep himself out, and I think he needs it.

And then I pad off, clothes in hand, to find another blanket and settle myself on one of the church benches for a long, cold night.

"Miss Dollface?"

I'm sitting on one of the benches in the church, absently balancing a small flame on my palm and staring at the altar. I haven't been here long; I wonder if Ivan heard me moving or if it's just coincidence. But I give him a nod and he comes to sit next to me, not batting an eyelid at the white flame twisting up from my bare skin.

"You are not religious?" he asks after a while.

"No." I consider it. "My mother was. She was Catholic, and she brought it over here when she moved. My brother is, sort of. But I never have been. And now..." I give a one-shouldered shrug. "I serve a higher power. I'm aware the gods exist, but I can't make myself believe any more than I believe in a storm. I can't ask them for anything."

"Faith is not for everyone."

"I thought part of every religion was converting people."

"There are those who serve other powers." He turns his head to me, and is studying me frankly. "You are not what you seem."

"How do you know that?"

"You blossom with sunshine."

My breath catches as I realise what he's done, and I'm suddenly furious; the tiny flame on my hand stretches and flares. "You use the Sight on me?"

"I like to know who comes through my doors."

I force Summer to retreat, force myself to calm down; my flame subsides as I bring it back under control. He had every right to do that, and to be fair, I'd pretty much given myself away as a magic-user as soon as he saw the flame. I just hadn't realised that he'd checked earlier. "How come you're in the Church, then, if you're a wizard?"

He shrugs and looks away. "I followed my calling. God spoke to me more than magic did."

"Yet you're a Venatori."

He spreads his hands. "I cannot deny the darkness in the world."

"There's that, all right."

"I could not convert you." He's smiling faintly. "Your mistress would not approve."

I try to imagine Titania's reaction. "I don't think she'd mind, really, until it conflicted with her."

"Every force conflicts. But your path is a hard one even without a faith."

I feel a sad smile quirk my lips. "I didn't exactly choose it."

We sit in silence for a few more minutes, and then Ivan stands. "I will sleep. Do you not, Miss Dollface?"

"I will, later," I say lightly. I'm not going to tell Ivan that I don't have a bed, otherwise he'll try to give me his. "Will you let me give you something?"

He frowns, trying to work out my words. I hold out my free hand to him, inviting him to place his in mine. After a moment, he does.

I bend and lightly kiss it, letting Summer trickle through. It's a far smaller dose than the one I gave Kindred, but it will lighten his heart, banish the dreams, let him sleep soundly...

He blinks, and then I see his eyes fill with tears. He doesn't wipe them away; he just gives me a sober nod, and removes his hand before walking away.

And I'm left in the silence of the small church, the tiny flame balanced on my palm and Summer weaving around me, wondering if I did the right thing.

The daylight finds me stretched out on a bench in the church. I've drawn on Summer to keep me warm and keep watch, and the faint thread of healing has wound through me as well. I'm feeling fairly sprightly as I fold my blanket and carry it back through to the cells to see who else is up at dawn.

Ivan and Marta are in the kitchen, and so I greet them and then hastily escape; there isn't enough room for one person, let alone three! Grey's door isn't open yet, but I push Kindred's open gently. Dawn should have wiped out the residual Summer magic.

He's still asleep when I step in, and I shut the door and step over to him as quietly as I can. He's still relaxed, too; his face has lost the tense lines it usually has, even unconsciously, and his breathing is still gentle. I'm wondering whether to leave him to sleep when his breathing quickens and his eyes begin to flicker.

"Kindred," I say softly as I back away, knowing that Winter instincts will likely kick back in as soon as he does wake up. I don't want to be within arm's reach, because he could see me as a threat. "Wake up."

He opens his eyes slowly, still looking incredibly relaxed. He smiles at me as he spots me. "I haven't slept that well in ages. You put a spell on me, you bitch." He lets out a long breath, still smiling, and then pushes himself up onto his elbows. "If you ever tell anyone you did that..."

"You'll set a Malk on me," I finish, smiling back. "C'mon, Ivan's coaxing the stove into working and there's the threat of Russian coffee."

The Winter Knight's face settles back into its usual lines, although he still looks very chilled out. "Oh, god. That stuff's awful. It can wake the dead, and believe me I've tried. Do you know what type?"

"Some mouthful that I can't even read, let alone pronounce."

He's swung his legs out from under the blanket and now unfolds, stretching languidly. I'm watching him with open admiration, and get a grin. "What?"

"Just enjoying the view."

"Glad you like it, dollface." He catches my cheek and gives me a quick, fierce kiss, and then is out of the door. "Ivan! I can smell coffee. What godforsaken brand have you got in these parts?"

I shake my head, put the blanket on the heap and follow my lover, friend and enemy in search of caffeine.


	14. Caves

We're in a series of tunnels, carved out by a long-gone river. There's echoes here, reflections and melding sounds, turning into one long hum that makes my bones shake. The stalactites vanished sometime previously, lost with the change of rock-type. I'm not a geologist but I know the basics - and anyway, any Summer Fae worth their power should be able to tell you what the earth feels like. It's one of our talents.

There was a long argument this morning between Grey and Ivan in something that must have been Georgian. I only speak a few words, and I caught enough to hear caves and wizard and trouble. Ivan's tone of voice said more than his language; he didn't want to come, but was arguing against something he couldn't fight. Grey did little to no persuading, after a first long burst. The priest eventually scowled, snapped something, and went to get his torch.

Grey turned to us. "He is coming with us."

I was quite surprised when Kindred didn't argue, but then I suppose having a guide and a man who can kill vampires with his touch is rather handy.

And now the priest is stomping along next to me, his flashlight illuminating patches of the rock around us. I'm trusting the fierce tug in my wrist, but Ivan's the one guiding our steps as he knows this section of the caves, at least - this is still the tourist part.

It is beautiful. Ribbons of white hang from the ceilings, sometimes forming pillars of twisted and bulging marble, and the floor has the same white shine as we walk along the smooth path between the sculptures. There's a slow drip of water from every direction, all underlaid by the endless flow from somewhere deep beneath.

Kindred's striding behind us, his ice-white flame balanced on his palm and lighting the area in addition to Ivan's beam. I turn back to check on him and glance over his scruffy t-shirt and jeans, the lank hair and tall frame. My opposite. My ally, for the moment, against a bigger threat.

Warren's somewhere in here. I lift my wrist and feel the safety pin move against my skin. Somewhere. We just have to find him.

And then what?

I glance back again, seeing the fractured light coming through the razor-sharp ice encasing Kindred's fingers. He's expecting trouble. He'll find it - he always does.

My Queen ordered me to kill the traitor Knight, the ally of the Outsiders, the one with Nemesis as his mind. Mab wants him dead; a rare combination of both Fae Queens wanting the same thing, and Kindred's got his own reasons for wanting my ex-lover dead. Nicodemus, if that's who is controlling Marta, wants a traitor out of action. Ivan, as a representative of the Venatori, won't be at all sympathetic. And Grey..he probably doesn't have any sympathy for Nemesis. I don't know much of his history but from what I know of the people he allies with, his loyalties won't lie with anyone trying to destroy the universe.

And me?

He was my lover. He was my friend. He protected and guided me.

I don't know if I will be able to kill him.

We reach the end of the tourist area, Ivan stepping off the smooth path where it turns and heads for a larger cavern. There's a large, jagged crack in one wall, and his torch snaps on, illuminating the rock's surface.

We step in, and the cold air suddenly rushes in. I can feel the darkness around me, feel the cold and the earth pressing in...

This is vampire territory.

"Are there any victims here, Miss Dollface?" Grey asks soberly from just ahead of me.

"I'll check." I step to one side and lean against the rock, shutting my eyes.

The world around me swirls. My companions are glowing; Grey is the same dense blur that I saw previously, and Kindred has a shaft of bright, cold white in him. Marta's a mix of life and a dark shimmer, and Ivan's normal; just a living, breathing human.

I stretch out, feeling the caves echo around me. They are ancient, twisting and turning, the river and water taking eons to carve the spaces out. And life? The bats flit, worms and beetles scurrying, a pack of wolves in the far end...

"Fuck," I say. "Yeah."

Ivan asks a question, and I think I catch the jist. He wants to know where they are.

I crouch and draw on Summer, still trying to keep it at a minimum. Closing my eyes, I spread my hands and try to transfer what I can 'see' to an illusion...

"Neat," Kindred's voice says, sounding impressed. Wow, I must be doing pretty good.

Ivan's hand waves somewhere in the space, and I risk opening my eyes, hoping that my illusion stays. The glowing beacons of life are golden in the white outlines of the caves.

I can't sense the vampires, of course. But at least my map gives us an idea of the best place to head for.

Kindred leans down and rests a finger on one glowing dot, on the other side of the map from the others. "Lookee here. I think we found ourselves our wizard."

The safety pin on my wrist confirms the direction, as much as it can. I stare at the golden glow and then nod.

"We gotta split," Kindred says. "Dollface, you're with me to find the wizard. Marta, Ivan, Grey, clear the caves."

"I think," Grey says equably, "that it would be more sensible for me to come with you. Miss Dollface is not adequate backup."

"So I get to be the babysitter?" Marta snaps.

Ivan delivers a spate of fast Georgian that spits and rages, and somehow tells the woman exactly what he thinks of that even with the language barrier. She blinks.

Grey smiles. "The good Father does not like Black Court vampires. He is more than capable of assisting you."

I feel Kindred's eyes on me as I push my hands together, vanishing the map, and then he says, "Marta? Ivan? It's your fucking lives on the line here. You want Grey?"

"We don't need him," Marta says, but there's no malice in it. It's more a statement. She's still puzzling me. Two people in one, Rowan said...has she got something else inside her? I can only vaguely remember the black coiling shape that stood in front of me in Sevastopol, the whip-like thing that removed the choking arm from around my neck. I'm starting to wonder if she's got a demon inside her, if she's a Denarian, or some kind of monster...

I suppose it would make sense to have a Denarian amongst the ones who want Warren dead. He's summoning Outsiders and causing chaos; Nicodemus wouldn't want the Apocalypse to have any more supporters than it already does.

Or she could just be freelance, like Kincaid; a mercenary for hire to anyone who pays. Like Grey.

The shapeshifter has just said something to Ivan, and the priest flicks a nervous glance at Marta, and then at Kindred. His eyes linger on me, and his jaw sets.

Grey says something else, and I catch the word, "Summer."

Ivan nods, and then turns to Kindred. "I fight without wolf."

And then Marta has shifted, and changed...

I wasn't imagining the mass of tentacles, the bundle of coal-black and nightmarish ropes. They coil together and rise, whispering around her, winding out from her torso with a constantly shifting movement.

She's a walking nightmare with glowing eyes and a fierce smile. I'm still no clearer as to what she actually is, but I know I wouldn't want to cross her. "Let's hunt."

Ivan steps up next to her, the thick chain of his cross wound around his hand with the symbol dangling. He looks small, but solid, for all that his face is pale in Kindred's ice-light. "Ja. Let's go."

Kindred grins wolfishly and nods to Grey and I. "Fightin' time."

These caves are old, twisted by eons of water and movement of the rock. There are creatures living in the darkness; the NeverNever winds in and out of the maze, providing cracks and hiding places. There are caverns and chambers, passages and rivers.

I'm out ahead, the safety pin on my wrist tugging gently. The pull's fainter than it was previously, and I'm still mostly relaxed; it means he's still a little way off, somewhere ahead of us in this maze. Kindred's a little way behind me, although I occasionally feel the touch of his magic ahead, scouting for traps.

So far, there hasn't been much. A few Black Court, who were dispatched with some gleeful grandstanding by Kindred and a much more prosaic approach from Grey. A rogue ghoul, who didn't have time to shriek as my fingers traced fire across his throat and Kindred's claws ensured he was dead. Some sort of cave troll, who didn't realise we were there as we slid past behind a glamour. And some bats. Terrifying, I know.

The walls start to bend, and I can sense a larger area up ahead. There's light, too; there's an entrance somewhere. I keep my back to the wall and tread carefully forward.

It's a rock cavern. The floor and walls are smooth, softened by an ancient river, long gone. On the far side, there's a jagged entrance that's letting in some light, and I feel my eyes adjust as I step forward around the last curve of the passage we've been following.

The man is just feet away, facing me as I come out of the passage.

"Warren..." The involuntary word is a breath as it leaves my lips, but I don't even realise I've dropped my veil until his shocked eyes meet mine.

The green and rolling hills have gone. They're black, pitted with stakes and thorns, draped in rotting vines.

The boy who once sat at the top, surrounded by flowers...he's a dark shadow, staring down across the broken landscape, fists clenched and eyes staring down at me across the barriers.

The first thing I hear is a faint moan, almost uncoiling from Warren's chest. It sounds like a wounded animal; it's something hurt, despairing, painful...

What did he see in me?

The world around me snaps back into focus, but it's too late. Warren's already taken a step forward, his mouth twisting in pain and anger and his hand going to his waist, and then something's hammered into my chest.

I stumble back, barely aware of anything more than the hurt and Warren's eyes on me. My hand's come up to the source of the pain, and it finally registers that what I'm touching is the handle of something. In my chest. He's...

The room slides sideways, and I don't even feel the floor as I hit it.


	15. Choices

The Winter Knight is already moving as the woman crumples, his hands stretching out and Winter unfurling within him. "Like that, is it?" he comments to the man whose face is still twisted as he looks at the woman he just killed.

Warren looks up and takes a step back, manoeuvring out of range, gaining space. "This is not your fight, Winter."

"Call it professional courtesy," the Knight says with a smirk, stepping out into the wider cavern floor, matching the other man's position. "I'll finish what she didn't."

"I have no desire to kill you."

"Oh, you should have." Kindred's grin is stretching and his eyes are alight with malice. "You do realise I took you place when you left, don't you? I've been fucking her."

The wizard's face twists, and his hands go out. "You..."

The Winter Knight easily deflects the bolt of light that slams into his shield. "Well, you didn't want her." He slides effortlessly out of the way of another blast. "Apparently she prefers me, too. Something about actually being appreciated-"

The wizard's face screws into a snarl, and the fight starts in earnest.

I open my eyes.

I'm back in Summer, in the golden cornfield where my Queen first gave me power. I can feel damp earth under my bare feet, and when I stretch my hand out, the ripening corn is as real as anything I've ever known.

"I thought I was dying," I say to the blue sky. The wind is tugging at my hair and shirt-sleeves. "Is this what's next?"

"Only if you choose it," my Queen's gentle voice says from behind me.

I turn, but there's no-one there. The cornfield is the only thing around me. I wonder if it's because she isn't really here, can't come here, or if this is some trick...but it feels real. "You're offering to save me?"

"For a third of your soul, my Knight, I can give you life."

A third of me, bound to the Court. But I'm already bound to them.

I could die. I could be free. I don't know what comes next, and it might be worth a shot.

But darkness is swamping me, and I can't move...

"You've just killed your only defender."

"She betrayed me!"

"Accepting that thing into your head was what-"

"I can see what is real," Warren snarls. Kindred's shield is glowing pure white, and the ground of the cavern is fractured in several places.

"You're being lied to. Manipulated." The wizard only just deflects a blow of pure, howling blizzard, forced to step back from the pressure. "You're the one who's delusional in thinking they'll bring you anything but pain."

The laugh was faintly disturbing, containing a hysterical edge, a maniacal undertone. "You cannot convince me of that."

"Then I'll just try other forms of persuasion," Kindred shoots back.

"You are failing, Knight," the wizard tells him. "You cannot fight emptiness. You cannot win against what I carry. I will succeed."

"Not if you keep fighting like that. Come on, give me something to work with!"

I open my eyes again.

I'm lying on my side. Grey is crouching over me, a bloody dagger in his hand, looking at me with worry. I can hear the slash of magic and then Kindred's voice, snarling something.

"You removed it," I breathe. My chest still hurts, but now I can feel Summer winding through me, healing me. I made my choice.

Grey's golden-sparked eyes look down into mine. He expected this - or at least, he's not surprised that it happened. "It is the Bane."

It still takes a lot of effort, but I stretch my hand out towards him, and he lifts his hand to place his palm against mine. My own blood from his fingers is wet against my hand, but for an instant, I feel something thrum.

I owe him my life.

"Is that it?" Kindred's taunting from somewhere beyond my feet. I can hear the strain in his voice, even though he's obviously trying to appear casual.

Grey extends a hand to me and helps me sit up. I still hurt, but Summer's doing its work. My white t-shirt and my hands are covered in blood, but I can feel Titania's kiss surging through my veins. One-third hers, now.

Warren and Kindred are a little way away. Kindred's got his usual icicle claws and ice armour, surrounding himself with cold, weaving and darting. Warren's got...a blackness, a darkness. It makes me shiver as I look at it; it's as if there's a void in the air. It's something alien, and I know that it's not natural. It also appears to be absorbing a lot of Kindred's spells. That's not so good.

Grey steps away from me, and I let Summer wind around me as I rise to my feet. My flaming sword has materialised in one hand and the other summons the sun's heart, balancing the tiny ball of pure heat with a lightness that belies my rage. I'm an angel of flame and fury, and I light up the cavern around me as I walk towards my killer.

It works.

Warren glances over, taken off-guard for a moment by his emotions, surprised to see me alive, taken aback by the appearance of his loved and hated Summer when he didn't expect it.

And Kindred, not even turning his head, takes full advantage of that moment.

Warren stumbles back as the Winter Knight's spell hits him full in the chest, and I see Winter's blast of death and decay take hold. The wizard doesn't have time to scream before he's sagged, skin and muscles rotting as I watch, hands futilely trying to grasp at the air. He's mouthing something but no words come out, and then it's too late.

I reach Kindred as the body in front of us collapses, a putrid smell haunting the air. And then it starts to shrivel, the skin shrinking to reveal bones that start to age as I watch.

The Winter Knight takes his eyes off the body for a moment to glance at me. "You can put the sword away now, dollface."

I leave Summer out for a moment, just to make a point - and to finish healing. And then I withdraw it, letting the sword fade, the blast of flames unwinding to leave me cold and empty in this strange place.

We stand with the crumbled pile of bones between us; the last remains of a former Knight and a wizard who had given his loyalty to Outside.

"Did you know she'd save me?" I ask into the silence.

The Winter Knight pauses, and then says, "No. As far as I was concerned, there wasn't anything more I could do. If you were dead, I couldn't save you - I'm not a bloody healer. I'd rather whack the guy that did it than waste time crying."

I have to smile. That's entirely fitting with the Kindred I know. "Thank you."

"I'm glad you're alive," he adds in a quieter voice. "I hoped you would be."

He'd come through a car crash with the same options. We both take a moment to consider the circumstances where you sell a third of your soul to a Queen of the Fae.

"You were lucky he didn't try a death curse," Grey says, appearing beside me and addressing Kindred.

"Figured he wouldn't have time," Kindred shrugs. The body is just a withered frame now. "Anyway, I didn't see you helping."

Grey says nothing, but I catch the faint smile on his lips. I don't know if Kindred knows what he did. I guess he doesn't want the Winter Knight to know there's now a blood-debt in place.

I glance at the crumpled pile of dust on the floor, and then turn to Kindred. "So what now?"

"We've got other company to dispose of."


	16. Finale

We head back through the maze of rock and water to catch up with Marta and Ivan, who have been disposing of the resident Court. Marta just tears them to pieces, but I personally think Ivan's a bit more effective; there's small piles of dust around.

We catch them up in a small tunnel; they've obviously heard us as they're waiting. Ivan's eyes crinkle as he sees my blood-soaked shirt, but the fact I'm alive seems to help quieten any questions. Marta's shifted back into her human form, and just raises an eyebrow at me. I don't bother responding.

"Progress?" Kindred asks.

Marta points at the ongoing tunnel. "We think we're close."

Kindred turns to me, eerily lit by his ice-white flame. I try not to flinch away as he pushes it towards me. "Dollface?"

I shut my eyes and produce the map again. I don't open them as the others look; I don't want to see if the golden glow at the far side is gone.

"Bloody humans are still there," Kindred says with satisfaction, and I snap the map shut before I open my eyes again. "Right. The Blacks probably know we're here, so we're not going to be subtle. Let's whack them as fast as possible."

"At the cost of the victims?" Grey objects. "We cannot get every Black Court at once. They will kill them as soon as we approach."

"They haven't yet. We can't get all-"

I put my hand on his arm. "It's my turn."

The Winter Knight turns on me. "You can't-"

"You had your fun." My eyes are bright; I'm awake, alive, with Summer flaring through me in a golden river. "Black Court respond best to fire."

He scowls at me.

I point at Marta. "Do you trust her?"

The Winter Knight, unexpectedly, responds immediately. "Yes."

My smile deepens. "Then put yours away. It's my playtime." I don't wait for his response, and turn to Marta. "Shall we?"

She gives the first proper smile I've seen; a wolfish, feral one.

"And me?" Grey says.

I wink at him. "You're always welcome." Ivan's already re-wrapping the cross around his fist, so he's in.

Kindred's staring at me with something wistful crossing his face despite the crinkle of irritation around his eyes. I step forward and slide a hand around the back of his neck, kissing him fiercely, bringing Summer with me. Winter catches me around the waist and for a moment, that's all that is needed; the two of us, eternally balanced and opposite, my lips warm on his cool ones and his body taut against mine...

And then he lets Winter fade, and Summer blossoms.

I spin out of his arms, whirling in glee, my hair and bloody clothes flying as I let Summer fill me. The fire and life is mine to command, and I've got a scourge to destroy. "Let's go!"

I am in the cornfield, my Queen's lips on mine, her voice in my head and life surging through my veins.

I am alive.

The cavern's large, with a slippery floor and dripping walls. The river's close to the surface here. There are humans here; battered and dull-faced people who don't look up at the noise. It's also full of Black Court, and they descend on us as soon as we enter the space.

I let my colleagues deal with the nearest ones, just focusing on getting as far out into the cavern as I can. I duck under a grasping hand, slam into three more, and then I'm spinning with the memory in my head and Summer flaring through me, my hands going out, laughter and sunlight following my movements. I light up the cavern with warmth and life.

It's the equivalent of an atom bomb. The vampires die; the sunshine turns them to dust as it passes across them, their arms reaching and faces screaming soundlessly.

I feel a brief moment of pity for them. Were they human, once? But they've chosen their actions and their natures. Summer isn't always kind, and my fire is burning through me.

Summer is here.

"All right, point made," Kindred says acidly as I stop, panting and laughing at the same time. It feels like a drug, a high that's washing through me, and I know that I'm going to pay for it.

I let the sunlight fade and try to come back to task. "Are they alright?"

Kindred turns and walks over towards them, and as I follow he crouches down in front of the nearest. She's dressed in jeans and a coat with a fur-lined hood, the kind that I remember being fashionable in my childhood. But her eyes are vacant and she doesn't seem to be responding to his voice or movements.

He pokes her cheek. She stirs and manages a brief head movement, and then she's looking blank again.

"They're gone," Kindred says, his face twisting. "Dollface?"

As I shut my eyes and draw on the flame inside me, I can feel it. It's like thorns, jagged nails shoved into my palms. They aren't alive. They just haven't died yet.

But when I open my eyes, they still look human. Dull-eyed, scared, shivering humans.

I feel my throat close. "Why me?"

"You made me put it away."

"I can give life," I choke. "I can't take it. That's your job."

"You're fucking weak," the Winter Knight snarls at me.

I spin towards him, Summer still tracking my movements with light. "I don't kill. That was the whole point, you fucking idiot!"

"So you want me to do your dirty work?"

"It's your work too! I. Won't. Kill." Summer's flaring, and I can feel Winter rising to meet me.

Grey steps between us. "This will not help. Miss Dollface, walk away. Mr Kindred, you will do what needs to be done."

I stand for a moment, and then deliberately let the fire drain. I have to be human. I have to let it go.

And I walk away.

By the time I walk back, they're just bodies.

"So?" Grey asks casually. "Our task is complete?"

"Yep," Kindred says. He's in a bad mood, something screwing his eyes up and crinkling his forehead. He runs a hand through his hair. "Let's get the hell out of here, first. Do you think we got all the Blacks?"

Marta shrugs. "We got most. That's enough."

I reckon my sunshine would have done a pretty good number on anyone lingering. I lit up half the cave structure. Kindred just nods and gestures for me to lead.

We're all silent as we trog through the couple of passageways that lead to another entrance, obviously where the victims were brought in. The air outside is blissfully fresh and cool, and I find myself sucking lungfuls. I hadn't realised how stressful it was in there.

"I will escort the Father to his church," Grey says. I wonder why he's feeling quite so responsible, and file away the Venatori connection for future reference.

Kindred nods, and holds out a hand. "I'll let your friend know his debt's repaid."

"Fully?" Grey corrects with a faint smile.

Kindred gives a grin. "Yeah, fully. I'm not gonna argue that you didn't pay your way."

Marta simply nods to Kindred, and then she's walked back into the rock maze behind us. The Winter Knight turns to me as we're left alone.

"This is what you've been dealing with?" the Winter Knight says to me.

I look him in the eye. There's only a faint trickle of Winter coming through; he's two-thirds theirs, but I've only got a faint itch that tells me he's nearby. He's pushed it down, pushed it away; he's feeling what I've had for the past few days.

"Yes," I say flatly.

He stares at me for a moment, and then - for the first time ever - gives me a slow nod, from one equal to another. "Nice job."

I smile at him. "Thank you."

"Oh, so that's a compliment you'll accept?" He smiles back at me.

I shrug. "I accept them if you mean them. Any other loose ends you need me for?"

He shakes his head. "The bastard's dead. The Fomor and Blacks were just a nice bonus. I'll let Mab know that he's out of her hair, and send someone to tell the Wardens to get their heads out of their asses-"

I give a snort of laughter. "Fat chance."

"Well, it's worth a try." He smiles. "Are you heading off?"

"Job's done, isn't it?" I meet his eyes again. "Unless you want to call in any other favours?"

"Hey, you owed me for this one."

I lean forward and lightly kiss his cold lips, and smile as I step back. "I did. Be seein' ya, winter boy."

"Laters, Dollface."


End file.
